Derek McDowell (Labour)

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 5, to delete lines 31 to 33 and in page 6, to delete lines 1 to 10.

This, the first substantive amendment we have reached, proposes to delete section 4 of the Bill which redefines what constitutes personal information. The Minister will doubtless be aware that this is causing considerable concern. I am particularly concerned about the comments of the leader of the One in Four group who said that much of the information on files held by health boards relating to people who had suffered abuse in the past would not be available under the new Bill.

It is also very unclear from where the demand for this change has come. Reading the records of the committee's meeting last week, I noticed that it did not really deliberate on this section, nor did it see it as something with which it wanted to interfere. It is also clear, recalling the comments of the Taoiseach in the Lower House the week before last, that he did not know that the Bill contained a substantial redefinition of what amounted to personal information. There is no doubt that if we accept the redefinition of personal information, much information previously available to individuals and that concerns them personally will simply not be available in the future. The files must now contain personal information rather than relate to a person. There is no doubt that a huge amount of information will now be precluded from release in a way that was not the case heretofore. This amendment is a substantive one and I ask the Minister to give it some consideration.