Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging that the scheme was launched and €1 million allocated to it. As representatives of rural communities, she and I both know it is desperately needed, particularly in areas where we do not have Garda stations. I can only speak for my own neck of the woods, as Deputy Smyth can for her county. In my experience, some of the initial difficulties were around privacy issues. When we got over those issues with the county council, a secondary issue arose as to who was the data holder. With the advent of the new GDPR legislation that came from Europe this year, under which we are all probably still floundering as to exactly what responsibilities we have, the issue needs to be teased through by the Department to make sure we get an accurate reflection. Unfortunately, that will delay things somewhat. I would be loath for anybody to think they had the answer to this without it having been checked out by the Data Protection Commission, with which the Department of Justice and Equality is liaising at the moment. In the interim, I will try to find out how soon a response is expected so at least we will all know where we stand.

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