Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make two points, the first of which is that there must be accountability in this case, while the second is that we need to know if it has wider application. It was a significant ruling by the Data Protection Commissioner, that a very powerful State agency was in breach of the Data Protection Acts in the non-disclosure of personal information held by the agency on some borrowers. As public representatives, we are regularly in receipt of grievances from NAMA debtors and must make a call on how we should deal with them. There are certain issues that we are allowed to raise with NAMA, while not making representations in contravention of the Act. However, it can sometimes be difficult to get any information whatsoever. The ruling was that there had been a breach. We need an account of how it happened and to know if it has wider application in other incidences of non-disclosure by the agency on foot of the receipt of information requests.

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