Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to deal with the important issues raised by this motion. It is an opportunity for me to update the House on the issue of the deletion of audio files, which is central to the motion before us. Colleagues across the House are united in wanting to do what is right by survivors. I strongly believe we must focus on real solutions and move quickly to resolve the difficulties in a way that best serves survivors. For this reason, the Government has not tabled a counter-motion today. Instead, my Department and I have been focusing our energies on working with the commission to retrieve the audio recordings from the confidential committee. We have also continued preparations to be ready to start providing personal data to those who request it under GDPR when my Department becomes data controller following the dissolution of the commission at the end of this month. I firmly believe that it is these actions that can best meet the call for survivors to ensure that their voices are heard.

I understand the anger of some survivors regarding the treatment of the audio recordings. Without the courage and resilience of survivors who came forward to share their stories with the confidential committee, we would be left without a full picture of the horrors endured in the institutions. Today, I believe I can offer those survivors reassurance regarding the accounts of that lived experience.

The confidential committee module of the commission was designed to provide a mechanism where people could give accounts of their experiences in the institutions in complete confidence and in a non-adversarial and informal way for the overall purpose of compiling a report of a general nature. The order setting out this obligation in respect of the confidential committee required that its procedures must provide for individuals who wish to have their identity remain confidential. The commission acted in good faith in seeking to design processes and procedures that met this requirement.

The commission has indicated that each interview was attended by two members of its staff. The commission stated that interviews were audio-recorded purely as an aide-memoireto ensure the documented accounts of the experience of survivors would reflect accurately the experience they shared with the committee. The commission has said that each witness at the confidential committee was given a guarantee of complete anonymity, and it was for this reason that tapes were deleted. I recognise that some survivors dispute this point.

Once the interviews had been documented, they were then summarised for inclusion in the 200-page confidential committee chapter, which stands as part of the commission's final report. This report preserves for all to see, and for posterity, the very powerful, harrowing and humbling accounts provided by survivors. I have said before on the record of this House that those 200 pages are, for me, the most powerful part of the commission's final report.

Over the last number of weeks, I have engaged intensively with the commission to resolve the understandable concern of survivors in relation to the audio recordings made by the confidential committee. The commission notified me on Monday, 22 February that it had retrieved the backup tapes containing the audio recordings of the confidential committee interviews from its off-site storage. A database file, including the audio recordings, was restored from the backup tapes by an IT expert. The file included 549 audio files. A random sample of these files was tested by the IT expert to verify if the audio files could be heard. A section of each sample file lasting a couple of minutes was played. All of the sample files played successfully and were audible. The commission has agreed to deposit the audio recordings with my Department, a commitment that is in keeping with other actions it is taking to transfer the rest of the archive to me by 28 February. The commission has repeatedly stated that this process and the associated actions were carried out with the knowledge of survivors and it documented this in its final report. It is clear that some survivors do not share this view. I hope the retrieval of the recordings offers reassurance to those survivors.

The commission states that consent was given by 549 of the 550 witnesses to the use of an audio device and the subsequent deletion of the recordings. For clarity, the final witness, who objected to their testimony being recorded, was not recorded. An important point to note is that I have received information from the commission that approximately 80 people who attended the confidential committee sought for their personal information to be redacted. The wishes of these people must be honoured and consideration is being given to how this will be met in terms of the audio recordings.

The retrieval of these audio recordings by the commission is a significant and welcome development. Their transfer to my Department this week will provide an avenue for those who consented to the recording of the interview to seek access to their personal data. If they consider that the record is inaccurate or incomplete, they will be able to exercise their general data protection regulation, GDPR, rights once my Department becomes the data controller after 28 February. This will involve persons making a request to exercise their right to rectification after the archive transfers to the Department. I will publish policies containing information about how this can happen shortly. I am acutely conscious that the next steps in relation to these audio recordings will need to be carefully managed in a manner that respects both the protections afforded to an archive of a commission of investigation and the rights of all parties involved.

My Department is preparing intensively for its role in the management of the commission's archive and is committed to managing subject access requests related to the commission's archive in an efficient, effective and transparent manner and in full compliance with the data protection regulatory framework. To that end, we have established a new dedicated information management unit. This unit is staffed with and supported by relevant expertise in data protection and records management. I am pleased to state that the Department has delivered on the recommendation of the commission to appoint an archivist. At the same time as establishing these new dedicated resources, the Department has also been liaising with and consulting the Data Protection Commissioner and will continue to do so. We have also sought the advice of external GDPR experts.

In addition to all the steps I have outlined, I remain committed to considering other options to support survivors in sharing their stories and vindicating their lived experience, including through enabling witnesses to submit their stories afresh to form part of the planned national memorial and records centre. It must be remembered that while 550 people appeared before the confidential committee, many people have contacted my Department and spoken about their experiences for the first time since the publication of the commission's report. The commission's report and the Government's response, including the State apology by An Taoiseach, have been significant in giving them the courage to come forward for the first time. In future, many of these people and others who did not appear before the confidential committee may wish to tell their stories and participate in the survivor centred process which must underpin all the Government's actions.

As I indicated, the Government has not tabled a countermotion today in the spirit of working together to provide solutions for survivors. We are focusing our energies on practical actions which can assist those distressed by the deletion of the audio recordings. Given the positive developments on which I have updated the House this morning with regard to the commission's retrieval of the audio recordings, it is not clear what practical purpose can be achieved by extending the term of the commission.

The focus of the Government must be on delivering the 22 actions which formed the response to the report of the commission. I am committed to sustained engagement and action to advance these measures in response to the identified needs of those who spent time in these institutions as adults and as children, even though they had committed no wrong. I have spoken with many survivors and heard the stories. I know they still suffer from the grievous breach of rights and harm done to them. I am committed to doing all I can to deliver for them. I know this commitment is shared across the House.

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