Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

8 o’clock

Deputy Joan Collins was unfortunately unable to attend tonight’s debate so I will be taking the five minutes of her time. All of us have received an astounding amount of correspondence on this legislation in recent weeks. I tell the thousands of people who contacted me, and indeed those who are watching closely for the outcome of this debate, that I hear them, I am listening and I respect the agency of every survivor and their right to access their own data, to share their story publicly, anonymously or otherwise, or indeed to not share their story again or at all. I am conscious of the retraumatisation that the media coverage and debates on the matter could have caused over the past number of weeks.

I have been working closely with my colleagues, Deputies Connolly and Joan Collins, Senators Higgins and Ruane, as well as linking with Dr. Maeve O’Rourke of Justice for Magdalenes Research and, of course, considering all correspondence received by my office also from groups such as Aitheantas - Adoptee Identity Rights in developing my amendments submitted for Committee and Report Stages. I thank Noelle Browne for speaking publicly with Tony Groves and Dr. Vicky Conway, also on the Echo Chamber Podcast, for sharing her powerful personal testimony of her perseverance in accessing information about her birth parents and life before adoption.

It is absolutely disgraceful that this legislation is being rushed through both Houses last week and this week when the Government has been on notice since 2016 from the commission of investigation. Indeed, Deputy Naughten, supported by myself and others, tried to submit a motion tonight calling for the publication of the sixth interim report of the commission, which is reported to contain matters around data protection and the general data protection regulation, GDPR. How can the Government rush through this legislation when we have not even had access to the sixth interim report? It is utterly unacceptable that the Government is saying that it cannot do anything about the sealing of records because it is provided for in the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004.

The question that most people and survivors are asking is, "Who benefits from the sealing of this archive?" Many of the documents have already surpassed the 30-year rule and should now already be deposited with the National Archives, so why would they be resealed and the 30-year clock restarted? Why would the Minister and the Government deprive survivors, their families and relatives of answers? Survivors, in particular, have a right to access their personal information and relevant data. They have a right to answers about their entry and exit routes as detailed in the commission’s database, as well as information about who was involved in forced family separation, illegal adoptions and all other information about their own lives. If the Minister has not yet read the "Testimony" essay of the Éire-Ireland journal that was shared with us earlier today, I ask him to please do so. It makes for harrowing reading and contains excerpts from an international conference in November 2018.

The rushing through of this flawed legislation is not only cruel but according to data protection experts, it is also completely unnecessary. It is widely accepted, except by the Government it seems, that Articles 15 and 18 of the GDPR regarding rights of access and rights of the data subject supersede the secrecy provisions of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. Ireland is a very changed country since the 2004 legislation was passed and I do not accept the Minister's defence that undoing the provision for sealing the archive for 30 years would undermine the whole work of the commission of investigation.

Have the Minister and his officials reviewed the statement on restrictions on data subject rights in connection with the state of emergency in member states, which was adopted by the European Data Protection Board, EDPB, on 2 June 2020? This statement, of course, followed a Hungarian decree in May 2020 on derogations "from certain data protection and access to information provisions during the state of danger". This state of danger is the Covid-19 pandemic. The EDPB states, "GDPR remains applicable and allows for an efficient response to the pandemic, while at the same time protecting fundamental rights and freedoms." Point 11 in the EDPB statement states, "The mere existence of a pandemic or any other emergency situation alone is not a sufficient reason to provide for any kind of restriction on the rights of data subjects."

Why would the Minister think that Senator McDowell’s flawed 2004 legislation would take precedence over European law? It does not make any sense. Simon McGarr produced a very accessible blog entitled "Mother and Baby Home Commission records: an EU law perspective." His final sentence is, "It would be perverse legacy for the government to legislate to deprive people of data they so sorely wish to access about themselves and open Ireland up to the risk of fines on foot of enforcement by the European Commission in order to do so."

It could be said, of course, that the treatment of these young women and babies by religious orders, the State and the country is already a perverse legacy and this is the exact reason the Minister should now be doing everything in his power to do what is right. Scrap this legislation. Give ministerial direction to the commission that GDPR law supersedes any secrecy issues arising from the 2004 Act and start to make amends to all of the people who were hurt by these institutions and who continue to be hurt by this State.

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