Results 4,201-4,220 of 10,573 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Retirements (7 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, said, work has started. We gave a commitment in the legislation to work within the timeframe of the Bill. I was very clear in pointing out at the time, both here and in the Seanad, that while a report might be laid before the Houses, it might not provide the remedies for which we had all hoped. If there is a remedy, it may require legislation to give effect...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Retirements (7 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, said, work on it is under way. We gave a commitment to work within the timeframe. I do not want it to be suggested there are negative connotations. I want to be upfront with the House. When I agreed to accept the amendment, I did so in the full knowledge that it was not a panacea or magic wand. I do not want false hope to be held out to the people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Retirements (7 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: At the time of the legislation going through the Houses, and on foot of the Deputies' amendments, we undertook to insert a provision into the Bill for a report. The report is under way, as the Minister has said. During the passage of the Bill in the Dáil and the Seanad, I had said that we also have to be cognisant of others, and Members agreed with me. There is this cohort, and we all...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Seanad for the opportunity to return to the House. I am dealing with amendments Nos. 1, 2, 24 and 25. Is that correct?

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the House knows, the legislation is key to delivering on the public service reform commitments, expanding digital delivery of services and making greater use of data. It also provides for stronger governance and transparency by public service bodies in the way they share and manage data. The Bill was initiated in the Seanad and we had a very useful and constructive debate in the course...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is as the officials have communicated to the Senator.

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Group 2 comprises amendments Nos. 3 to 5, inclusive, which relate to section 7 of the Bill. The Seanad will recall that in regard to a number of the amendments made on the floor of the House, I said there may be a need to make technical amendments to ensure the wording is completely sound from a legal point of view. Most of the amendments we are considering today fall into this category;...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: As I said in the Dáil and the last time I was here, I am not making any changes to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, and nor can I. In this Bill I am trying to reflect what is in that Act and, in doing so, it is not our intention to create any special categories of data. The Senator will be aware of some of the discussion we had in the Dáil around this issue. We came up with...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Group 3 comprises amendments Nos. 6, 7 and 13.

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Yes. Amendments Nos. 6, 7 and 13 provide that public bodies cannot ask for a public services card or access a public service identity as the exclusive basis by which a person may verify his or her identity in order to conduct a transaction or access a service. It is crucial to the construction of the legislation that the public service identity includes some of the following: PPS number;...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Senator for her contribution. I do agree at all with her assertion about the Attorney General and her sweeping statement that "the Attorney General is wrong".

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Senator made the assertion that "the Attorney General is wrong". I disagree because the Attorney General has given us advice on what constitutes a public service identity, and I have outlined the elements that would construct a public service identity. The most important part of the section that we are dealing with is not the exclusive means. Section 7(6) states:A specified body may not...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Hold on a second.

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: The legislation clearly states: "A specified body may not make presentation of a public services card or access to a person’s public service identity the exclusive basis". What would be the basis if that provision was deleted? Are we supposed to be vague and describe a person as living five houses up from the second house on the left? If a person decides not to co-operate because of...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not want to have an exchange over and back with the Senator but she has already said that someone could come forward with a passport. How would he or she get that passport in the first instance if he or she was not going to accept that the public services identity card is one of the exclusive means? There has to be a means for the State to engage with the citizens who are availing of...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: It makes it very clear that it ties the hands of the State in terms of trying to identify a person because it makes it very clear that we cannot use on an exclusive basis the public services card or access to a person's public services identity. In respect of my accepting the definition of a public services identity, which is name, address, PPS number, date and a whole pile of things like a...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Group 4 consists of amendments Nos. 8, 9, 11 and 22. Amendment No. 8 concerns the issue of commercial activity. It provides that public bodies may not share data where the body receiving the data is involved in commercial activity where the use of that data could give the body concerned a commercial advantage over other operators in the same market. When we debated this in the Seanad,...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Amendment No. 11 can be read in conjunction with amendment No. 22, which inserts the words "is satisfied that the agreement is consistent with Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation". I understand that there has been a lot of discussion about necessity and proportionality. Having reflected on it with the Attorney General, we have strengthened the Bill in terms of the...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Group 5 consists of amendments Nos. 10, 21 and 23, which concern the reporting requirements under the Bill. I accepted an amendment to section 17 in the Seanad that will provide that an Oireachtas committee could request the Minister to furnish it with a copy of any data sharing agreement made under the legislation. Accepting this amendment has an unintended consequence of removing the...

Seanad: Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (6 Feb 2019)

Patrick O'Donovan: Group 6 relates to amendments Nos. 12, 19 and 20. Amendment No. 12 deletes section 21(6) which provides that this section is without prejudice to the rights of the data subject in respect of any or all data controllers. This has been deleted on account of significant concerns raised by the Attorney General that the wording, "This section is without prejudice to", introduces legal...