Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The exchange of passenger data is important for Ireland and the wider EU law-enforcement communities. The transfer of PNR data relating to international flights has been common practice worldwide since the 9/11 attack. The EU has a number of agreements with third countries as a consequence of that. A past judgment by the ECJ showed that the EU is enforcing increasingly high standards for privacy protection, which is welcome and is needed especially for agreements established prior to GDPR coming into effect.

Passenger name records include names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, even meal preferences and details that can indicate, for example, ethnic background, religious belief or political affiliation. Therefore, it is quite sensitive information. Strong safeguards need to be in place for the exchange and use of the information. There could be an obvious risk of profiling, for example. As it stands there are three international agreements in place between the EU and third countries, the UK, the US and Australia. The directive now seeks to draw Norway, Iceland and Switzerland in. The point I am making is that there was already a significant exchange of data sets and it is growing.

While we are supportive of this and notwithstanding the GDPR legislation that is in place, I would like further reassurance that every protection is in place to keep information secure once it is transferred. We must have that assurance and that is exactly what passengers would expect. I believe they are happy to share information provided they can be confident that such information will not be misused or compromised.

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