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

I will use what time I have left as I judge appropriate. The key point here is that it goes on to deal with the person who receives and I am talking all the time about the person who releases. The Minister of State either will not grasp this or he is avoiding it. There is nothing to prevent the release of inappropriate and unnecessary information between these three agencies in the way described and provided for in this legislation. That is a fundamental undermining of our rights as citizens to proper protection and to be sure that sensitive personal data is not released merely on the basis of a request. The key point is that we have a responsibility to provide the protection in law. We cannot now depend on what the Bill requires, a data exchange agreement between the HSE, the Minister for Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners. We have no sight of that agreement and may never have because it may never pass through this Chamber for the purposes of democratic accountability and oversight or evaluation. The only thing to which we can turn and stand over on behalf of the citizens who elected us is the text of the Bill placed before us. I am sorry but as I have repeatedly explained, this Bill fails the test and the Minister of State's defences do not hold up in respect of the charge I make that this significantly undermines our rights to privacy and the protection that we should usually enjoy.

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