Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I accept that the practices described by Deputy Fleming take place. It may be that the e-privacy regulations, which I transposed into Irish law last summer, need further promulgation and need to be brought to the attention of consumers in the manner described by Deputy Fleming. Where calls are recorded and retained by the marketing company, the subscriber has the right of access to a copy of the recording under section 4 of the Data Protection Act.

With regard to the confidentiality of marketing telephone calls and the recording thereof, the provisions of the Data Protection Acts concerning the processing of personal data are applicable. As I said in my response, some 1.16 million landline telephones are on the register and their owners will not be pestered in the manner the Deputy described. He is correct that there is no such register in the case of mobile telephony, but other protections are in place. These include not only the Data Protection Acts, but European Union privacy regulations. Deputy Fleming may well be correct that it is more a matter of promoting, promulgating and publicising their existence.

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