Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Yesterday, the Data Protection Commission fined the Department of Health €22,500 for excessive and disproportionate eliciting of sensitive personal details about the private lives of people who had taken legal action against the State over access to supports for children with special educational needs. It came after the exposure of this practice by Mr. Shane Corr, a whistleblower in the Department of Health who spoke about the practice of collecting sensitive medical and personal information about vulnerable children and their families when the State was defending lawsuits. He stated:

I saw several notes relating to alcoholism within the family structure. I saw notes relating to siblings of the children that weren’t relevant ... Whether the child was prone to violent acts towards its parents, its siblings, its teacher, its doctor. Everything that you would not want to know about the family living beside you was there.

This was an horrendous approach, with the State abusing its position as a provider of care in order to gather information and use it against parents and families who were just trying their best to get what they needed for their kids.

4 o’clock

It is really horrific that it happened. I am not sure that a fine of €22,500 is sufficient. I invite the Taoiseach to take the opportunity to condemn what happened and to ensure that such an approach to these things will never happen again.

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