Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister of State will agree that this legislation is the vehicle for data sharing. A key element of the available databases is the database that is acquired via the public services card. Prior to there being such a card, data were acquired in different ways through the direct collection of information and multiple uses of the data were allowed. However, this Government has been different in its desire to utilise the card for a whole set of other transactions and interactions with bodies and data. The point that was made in the debates months ago and, indeed, when the public services card first came into operation was that there would inevitably be people who, for various reasons such as incapacity, might not be able to utilise the card. Therefore, some of the controversies have been downright silly.

On the principle of ensuring data protection for citizens to the maximum extent, particularly post GDPR, the Minister of State is receiving sensible advice from Deputy Clare Daly regarding the card and this data sharing Bill, which utilises the card and other potential sources of data, including from other Departments.

I brought to the Minister of State's attention a notorious case but, if I may say so, the Government is allowing itself to become arrogant concerning an horrific story that the Minister of State, whose remit covers data sharing, should make it his business to find out about and perhaps raise with his colleagues, for example, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance or the Minister for Justice and Equality. However, the Minister of State has now been put on notice and, in the context of this Bill, cannot just say that he will ignore what seems to have been an extraordinary breach of data privacy in one of our national newspapers just a couple of days ago. There is no need to be arrogant about it.

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