Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Most of the contribution of the Minister of State was a straw man in building up a case that we were not making. The rationale behind his argument appears to be that when people give their data to one public service provider, they should not be allowed to opt out of having that data shared with another public service provider.

That is just nonsense. Most people will agree to the convenient approach being outlined. Those who do not will have European law on their side and should have the right to opt out. If that means, for instance, that a person's son or daughter has to ring him or her to avail of the €100 from the President when he or she reaches his or her centenary, that he or she has to initiate it or whatever else it might be, so be it, if that is his or her choice.

The logic of the Government's position is that if people want to use public services, they must sacrifice control of their privacy and data. That is not legal. Part of the problem is that the Minister of State is trying to play catch-up with some of the decisions made on services from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I refer again to the case of Mr. Graham Dwyer. During the years the State has not listened on the question of data and it is going to end up costing us a lot of money. It is far better that we do something about it now. This would be an opt out. I should also say it would be a once-only requirement. It would not have to be done every year. When people make contact with a particular service, they go through the issue of consent the first time. That is their choice and there is no problem in that regard.

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