Results 5,521-5,540 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: Nonetheless, findings Nos. 3 and 8 refer to the issue of the blanket and indefinite retention of data. The Minister is saying that is solely for the purpose of the Ombudsman but there is a lot of detail in it. For example-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: What are the other purposes?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: Does the Minister think that satisfies proportionality and necessity?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: I will give two examples of data being retained. The issue of applicants' mother's maiden names caused considerable distress to adopted persons who had to go through that process, which we discussed in this committee previously. That information is retained. Does the Minister believe that is proportional or necessary?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: I am asking the Minister if it is proportional or necessary to retain that information.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: The report refers to "personal data consisting of documents and information ... which are originally collected for the purposes of identity authentication".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: During proceedings in a High Court case this week, Ms Caitriona Bracken, who was formerly with the Department, said it was "an accepted work practise of the department’s management and staff to release information to Gardaí, solicitors and private investigators upon request". That related to the release of an address. Does the Minister have concerns about the risks, from a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: I am a referring to a High Court case. An official from the Department was speaking at the time.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: The member of staff in question said that the release of data was commonplace and that it was "an accepted work practice of the Department's management and staff to release information to Gardaí, solicitors and private investigators upon request".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: As the Minister cannot comment on the case, I will move on to my next question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: Exactly. That is why I am stopping that discussion and moving on. The travel pass is another area of blanket indefinite retention. This is a serious concern. We have learned that the movements and journeys of over 1 million people who are on the statutory pension or have a disability are tracked.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: They are logged. That data is held by the-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: No, the specific question-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: No, my question is specific. Given that there were just 33 requests for this information to be sought by anybody, does the Minister believe that having that information accessible is proportionate or necessary? It is accessible by the Department.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: Therefore, the Department knows the usage information relating to somebody's travel card.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: The fact that the identity is known to the Department is part of the issue. The second, fifth and sixth findings in the report are of relevance in this regard. The sixth finding relates to people being clear about the consequences. The second relates to how people's data are used. The Data Protection Commissioner found that people were not adequately informed about how their data would be...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: It was a survey of 1,000 people.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: I have to clarify something.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Alice-Mary Higgins: Some 77% of the 1,000 respondents were satisfied with the retention of documents.