Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not burn them, unless I have to, although I might burn a few around you, Minister.

This issue raises fundamental challenges in important areas such as data protection, privacy, the proper or improper use of public money and the very credibility of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

The Data Protection Commissioner has been clear, however, that it is a misunderstanding to think data protection law is directly and only concerned with privacy. In fact, as she noted in her report, it involves a far broader area of law that in many cases have less to do with privacy, as the term might commonly be understood by people, including me, and more to do with how people exercise control over their own information. That highlights the key issue for me, quite apart from the estimated cost of the card project to date of around €60 million. The commissioner also highlighted another extraordinary fact that has been commented on little, namely, that no public sector body has invested in the technology capable of reading the chip that contains the encrypted elements of the public sector identity dataset on the card.

It has been bizarre to watch the very public squabble between the Data Protection Commissioner, the Minister and the Department, it seems each taking their own separate view, although I suppose that is not bad. It seems the Government has a habit of pushing ahead with projects that may have a shaky legal basis. I understand new smart CCTV camera schemes which have the potential to provide for facial recognition have been introduced in cities such as Limerick and towns such as Duleek in County Meath. Some 14 towns in County Limerick are to have 44 smart CCTV cameras, the information from which will be linked with data from environmental footfall sensors, as well as number plate recognition systems. As a result, the Data Protection Commissioner has stated her intention to appoint a special investigation unit later this year to conduct a comprehensive nationwide investigation into CCTV camera schemes. The Minister might tell us if it is another project that is doomed to fail?

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