Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Cybersecurity is a major issue for every citizen as well as for the State itself. The Taoiseach indicated to the House previously that the report of the Data Protection Commission on the public services card would be published today despite calls by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection during the summer for it to be suppressed. I am glad that this decision has been arrived at.

The public services card contains highly personal data relating to health information, educational records and, we understand, interactions between State bodies. We also understand from the leaks of the report that the commission has stated that retained documents with personal data must be destroyed. The public has an absolute right to know whether this is actually happening and to have personal data protected.

The determination by the Data Protection Commission must be respected by the Government. This is the important matter that I wish to discuss. We have a Data Protection Commission that will regulate important data, not only for the citizens of this State, but for citizens across the EU, given that so many multinational companies are based in Ireland. It is an important signal that the determination of the commission is fully respected. If it is the point of view - I understand that it might well be - that the broadening of the use of the public services card is a legitimate objective of the Government, surely the right way to move forward is, if it is not covered by current legislation, to introduce amending legislation and seek the sanction of the Houses. That would be a much better way to go than giving encouragement to others who might not like future decisions of the Data Protection Commission and would then be able to cite the Government as a body that took legal challenges.

Instead of simply appealing a report that the Government disagrees with, which would be fine, will it address the essence of the report, that being, the lack of a legal underpinning for what the Government is doing, and introduce amending legislation in the House in order to seek the authority of this and the Upper House to achieve the Government's objective?

See this speech in context