David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for taking part in this quite important debate. There are reasons it is taking place now to do with Brexit and the dangerous things that might happen there. We are strongly of the view on this side of the House that Ireland should participate in the adoption and application of this regulation. With respect to Deputy Ó Laoghaire's point on the creation of a large database, this is not created by this particular regulation but by a separate interoperability regulation. We are not talking about that particular point. Sometimes colleagues conflate this regulation with the proposals currently under negotiation on an EU level on interoperability of IT systems. This is not the subject of this regulation which relates to Ireland's participation in the eu-LISA regulation. eu-LISA will prepare the technical points of interoperability but Ireland is participating only insofar as it relates to the operation and management of the IT systems that we participate in. For Ireland these are SIS-II and Eurodac in which these Houses approved our participation. eu-LISA is essential to our ability to complete our connection to SIS-II in 2020. If Ireland opts to participate in any interoperability regulation then both Houses will have a say in that opt-in. That is not the subject of this regulation. Let us be clear about what we are at here.

Ireland's participation in eu-LISA has been important for our connection to the update of Ireland's national Eurodac systems as required by our participation in the Eurodac regulation. In progressing Ireland's connection to the SIS-II system, eu-LISA has been an important partner to ensure the efficient delivery of this project which will provide An Garda Síochána with access to this vital tool in the investigation of cross-border crime.

As Ireland participates in some of the systems which eu-LISA manages, it is important that we have a voice and a vote at the EU management board where decisions on the operational management of those systems are taken. Ireland's participation is confined to those systems in which we already participate and does not oblige us in any way to participate in systems such as the VIS, ETIAS or EES. However, participation in eu-LISA will enable us to exercise our option to opt in to future large-scale systems, should the Oireachtas approve of our doing so.

The central customs information system, CIS, is supervised by the European Data Protection Supervisor, EDPS. Supervision of each national system is allocated to data protection authorities in each respective member state. The systems and revision co-ordination group was set up in 2013 to ensure co-ordinated supervision of SIS II between the EDPS and national supervisory authorities. The CIS group meets twice a year. EU states must ensure that the taking of fingerprints and all operations involving the processing, transmission, conservation or deletion of data are carried out lawfully. The Commission must see to the proper application of regulation by the central unit. It also informs the European Parliament and EU Council of measures it takes to ensure the security of data. As I indicated, EU states' data processing activities are monitored by the national supervisory bodies, while those of the Commission are monitored by the European Data Protection Supervisor.

The Data Protection Commissioner is the national supervisory authority for Ireland. Section 12(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018 provides, among other matters, that: "The Commission shall monitor the lawfulness of processing of personal data in accordance with (a) Regulation (EU) No 603/2013 ... on the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person and on requests for comparison with Eurodac data by Member States’ law enforcement authorities." There are serious safeguards there and it is important that this would be the case.

I commend the motion to the House. I gather it will be debated tomorrow in committee as well and I hope the information which I put before the House earlier will be of assistance to colleagues in that important debate. I apologise for speaking so quickly but I wanted to provide as much information as I could in the time available.

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