Results 4,361-4,380 of 34,868 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: Before we adjourn, there are two items of correspondence I want to deal with and dispose of in private session. The latter is the wrong term but I want to deal with them promptly because they are issues we need to tackle. I do not want to leave them hanging unnecessarily. It will only take two minutes. We will adjourn then for ten minutes or so while the witnesses take their seats.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: We are resuming in public session. I draw the attention of our guests to the fact that by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General and invite Ms Dixon to make her opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: I thank Ms Dixon for her opening statement. She is very welcome on her first appearance before the Committee of Public Accounts. The lead speaker is Deputy Cullinane, who has 20 minutes, followed by Deputy Kelly, who has 15 minutes. The remaining speakers have ten minutes each in the following sequence: Deputies Catherine Murphy, Munster, Connolly, and MacSharry. They are the ones who...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is agreed to by the committee. We will write to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection seeking an up-to-date report and the current figures, not only those until the end of last year, for which appropriation accounts will be published next week. We will state we had covered the matter in a recent periodic report with the Department last year. The cost was...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is fine. We will log the issues.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: Ms Dixon can give her best estimate.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Deputy's time is-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will hear a brief response.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will return to it again.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes. Will the commission provide us with a note?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: I ask Ms Dixon to ensure that information comes through the Chair.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: If any other member wishes to speak, I will allow him or her to do so presently. I have a few questions for the delegates, whom I thank for their presentation. First, however, I wish to clarify a matter for the public record. We are often accused of being a little mischievous in who we call in, the idea being that we want to get headlines in the newspapers. That is not the case. The...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: In a sense, therefore, there is no great incentive for the commission to collect fines if they are adjudicated in the courts. It is really a loss to the Exchequer rather than to Ms Dixon's office.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: I mentioned earlier that I submitted a question some months ago to all Ministers about agencies under their remit with authority to take court prosecutions. In his reply on 2 April 2019, the Minister for Justice and Equality indicated that in 2014, the Data Protection Commission prosecuted fines through the courts totalling €25,000, all of which was collected. In 2015, just one...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: Members will note that a division has been called in the Dáil. All members who offered have spoken.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: I will facilitate the Deputy, although she might miss the vote.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: Members may take it that I will conclude the meeting and they need not return after the vote.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: I have a few more questions. One of the commission's main findings related to information being held for longer than was necessary. People lose cards all the time. Surely if the information is in the system for a year, two years or three years, it makes it easy for a card to be reprinted? There is a value there for the body holding the information. Does Ms Dixon understand the point I am...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Financial Statements of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (26 Sep 2019)

Seán Fleming: Will Ms Dixon explain what SAFE 2 is for the benefit of listeners? Although many people have a public services card, others, including myself, have not had a requirement to obtain one. Perhaps I will do so when I renew my driver's licence. Will Ms Dixon explain the process for those who have not applied for a card? It is not her job to do so, but it would be helpful.