Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I refer to amendments Nos. 2 and 82, which is the only one of the amendments of mine in this grouping.

On amendment No. 2, I welcome the fact that the Minister is recognising the view that existed in the committee. One of the most significant amendments that was made to the Bill was the requirement that there would be prospective approval of such regulations as pertain to that section. Much of the commentary that related to this Bill, particularly from experts and lawyers who are active in the area of data protection, aside from the fact that there was the possibility of conflict between the GDPR and the Bill and the potential for litigation in that regard, related to the issue of the significant scope that the Minister was allowing himself and his successors to draw up regulations for special categories of data to be processed and the circumstances in which that would be allowed. It was a positive move that the committee decided that should be a prospective process. I am glad, assuming I understand it correctly, that this amendment preserves that and changes the language. That is a positive development. It is an important safeguard.

On my amendment No. 82, I had submitted something to that effect before that was put into the Bill, but there is still scope for something to that effect. It would complement it. In such circumstances, as I stated on Committee Stage, such regulations should not be drawn up frequently and should be characterised by being infrequent. There should be scope, however, to have an impact assessment or, as I state in the amendment, for the Data Protection Commissioner to have those regulations referred to him or her for an opinion under the terms of section 100, and then returned to the Minister. There is scope, in drawing up these regulations, to ensure that the Data Protection Commissioner has view of them to assess whether they are proportionate and necessary and whether they are in compliance with the GDPR and with the relevant parts of the Bill. That is right and proper and that is the test that should be passed. There should be consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure that is the case.

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