Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Bill states, "That the Minister for Social Protection may request the Health Service Executive to furnish to him or her personal data held by...", "...when he or she requires it for the purpose of calculating...". There is no guarantee in that language that the data to be released are to be particular to the exercise to be undertaken by the Minister for Social Protection nor is that encompassed in the wording of section (8)(3) in relation to the Revenue Commissioners. They can require the information held. Nowhere in the wording of subsections (2) or (3) or that which applies to the Health Service Executive in relation to the two-way flow of information, is there an absolute requirement on the releaser to ensure the information released is particular to the exercise to be undertaken by the recipient agency. What will happen, therefore, in real terms is that whatever information is held on file in relation to citizens Alex White, Billy Kelleher or Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin will be transferred as requested. In terms of oversight and final determination of the utilisation or relevance of that information, this will be done by the receiving agency. There is nothing in the wording of this legislation that places the onus on the initial holder of the data to properly assess and determine the relevance of the information before it is released. This legislation as drafted offers no protection. There is no guarantee. As I have already stated, there is no personal protection or affirmation of the rights of citizens to privacy within Part 3 of the Bill. It is open season for the release of any and all information held by the Health Service Executive, the Minister for Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners. My only question is, why did the Government stop at these agencies. Why not add everything else besides and let us open up a real spaghetti junction of information in relation to each and every citizen? The Minister of State has no defence. He has not been able to counter the arguments made or to challenge the amendments put forward by Deputy Kelleher.

Again, and accordingly, I support amendments Nos. 6 and 7 for the same and sound reasons explained by Deputy Kelleher and myself.

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