Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 10, lines 9 to 11, to delete all words from and including “excepting” in line 9 down to and including “data” in line 11.

From the outset, it has always been my intention that this Bill would not apply to the sharing of special categories of data specified in Article 9 of the general data protection regulation, GDPR. At the outset, I thank the Deputies and their representatives who have engaged with my officials since Committee Stage. This refers to any personal data that reveals a person’s racial or ethnic origin; their political opinions or religious beliefs; or whether they are a member of a union. It also includes their genetic and biometric data and any information concerning their health, sex life and sexual orientation. To this end, section 5 specifically prohibits the use of this legislation to share special category data.

In the Seanad, I accepted two amendments to section 7 that were intended to make explicit that if any part of the public service identity were to contain special category data it could not be shared under this legislation. I told the Seanad at the time that I might need to make some technical amendments to these proposals to ensure the wording is completely sound from a legal point of view.

The Attorney General’s office has examined the amendments and has suggested an alternative wording that will have the same effect as the Seanad intended but which is more legally robust. The main issue the Attorney General has with this provision is that it only applies to section 7(2). However, section 7(3) also makes reference to the public service identity but, as things stand, there is no indication as to whether this subsection applies to special category data. The intent was to apply the exclusion to the entire section but this is not what is provided for in the text in its current form. The Attorney General has advised that we should remove any uncertainty or doubt at this time. I am sure the House will agree with me that this is the correct course of action to take. The amendment I am proposing, therefore, gives effect to this by creating a specific definition of the “public service identity” in section 7(5) that explicitly excludes special category data, which will apply to the entirety of this section of the Bill.

Amendment No. 2 removes the specific reference to Article 9 of the GDPR. This is not required since the definition of “special categories of personal data” in section 2, page 9, lines 8 and 9, provides that it means “information referred to in Article 9(1) of the GDPR”. I ask the House to support these amendments, which are technical in nature and exist solely to give full effect to the policy intent of the relevant amendments made in the Seanad.

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