Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

We should work collaboratively on this. When is anybody going to bring forward proposals or ideas? As this is a legislative Chamber, I am interested in the Deputy's ideas on this. I am interested in working constructively with people on this as well. This is information that I am trying to respond to in real time. The Data Protection Commission has advised that it is taking the assertions made in the programme very seriously and that it is investigating the operators concerned. Key issues will be whether these operators are complying with data protection law and whether the brokers concerned are based in the State, elsewhere in the EU or in third countries. This raises very significant issues. There is also the point that every time someone goes onto a weather app, they agree to give their location. There is a very significant issue here with the information that people are providing perhaps without full knowledge because of the jargon and the amount of material people have to read.

Based on the initial reports that I have read, although I reserve the right to see the full programme and have all the facts established, I am also concerned when I hear of particular references to this place and other institutions in the State and the potential issue that Deputy Bacik raised as well. I look forward to having more detailed briefings from the Minister for justice and the Data Protection Commissioner in due course.

See this speech in context