Results 10,621-10,640 of 21,096 for speaker:Charles Flanagan

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I think it is covered, but I would be in a position to provide more specific information if I had an example. To be conclusive, because it is an important point, we can deal with the matter on Report Stage.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I do but when the Leas-Chathaoirleach said, "There is no need for respect."-----

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: -----let me offer my respect to the Chair and, indeed, to the Members of the Upper House. In accordance with the Leas-Chathaoirleach's implied, if not expressed, suggestion, I will be brief. Amendment No. 1 inserts a definition of "political party" in section 2 of the Bill, while amendments Nos. 25, 38 and 39 replace sections 43, 53 and 54 with updated text. These three sections contain...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I will not accept amendment No. 26 which would delete section 43 in its entirety, nor will I accept amendment No. 27 because it would remove the reference to Referendum Commissions.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I do not see the added value of amendment No. 28 which refers to a private or commercial company, which is not defined in the amendment. Section 43 confines the processing of data revealing political opinions to candidates, political parties, holders of or aspirers to elected office in the State and the Referendum Commission. In conclusion, I fear that amendments Nos. 29 and 30 are based on...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: It is the bread and butter with which the Senator is concerned.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: The electoral wind.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: These issues will of course be subject to further consideration as the Bill travels from the Upper House to the Lower. I very much value the opportunities we have had over the past hour or more, having recommitted the legislation to Committee Stage. I acknowledge the breadth of the debate with Senator Higgins on one end of the argument and Senator McDowell on the other. The legislation...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I thank the Senator for that.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: My section 43 will allow for Independents who are not members of registered political parties to process data that does not seem to me to be covered by Article 9.2(d) of the general data protection regulation, GDPR. If I were to accept the Senator's amendments, having regard to the very positive and helpful nature that is intended, I would be concerned, for example, that Independent...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I would be happy to give it further consideration but I believe over the last while, between Senator McDowell on the one hand and Senator Higgins on the other, we have seen the need to engage in a type of balancing that will allow for ongoing engagement with the public on the part of people running for office, having particular regard to this being a special aspect of engagement that might...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: That is not unreasonable. That is not unreasonable and if it is not clear in the legislation it is worthy of further consideration. To return to Senator McDowell's point about junk mail or unsolicited material, it is very subjective. We probably all form the view that the other candidates' mail is the junk mail and ours is not.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: However, it is the person going to the polling booth who decides which is the junk and which is not. I want to return to a point that I may not have made clear, and to go back to Cambridge Analytica, rather than Cambridge Road. There is absolutely no reason for anybody to fear that Ireland, our jurisdiction, will become a hub for the carrying out of any electoral activities in respect of...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I will be helpful to the Senator but would never suggest that he is not right in anything.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: It could well be that he is reading an earlier draft.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: This refers to the Bill as amended on Committee Stage. We are merely deleting subsection (2).

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: The two lines do make sense, ending with "section 33".

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I want to stress that the "toolbox" of safeguards as referred to by Senator Higgins, is in addition to, and not a substitute for, the technical organisational measures required under a risk-based approach in Article 24.These additional safeguards are justified by the fact that they will apply to the special categories of personal data under Article 9, to which we referred earlier. On...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: Government amendments Nos. 3 to 6, inclusive, are in respect of sections 7 and 8. Let me refer to Senator Higgins's contribution to the Committee Stage debate during which she sought assurances that the setting up of the Data Protection Commission under Part 2 of the Bill would not in any way interrupt or disrupt investigations of complains already under way under the existing legislation...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage (22 Mar 2018)

Charles Flanagan: I am not in a position to accept these amendments. I point to section 145 of the Bill, which adequately deals with this issue and provides in an appropriate manner for the publication of convictions and certain other sanctions. Amendment No. 7 would require the Data Protection Commission to publish in its annual report a list of controllers and processors who have been found to be in breach...