Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thought Senator Norris would have been on my side on this issue. I will first deal with the concerns expressed by Senator Quinn and those expressed on behalf of the Genealogical Society of Ireland by Senator Quinn.

I can categorically reassure the Senator that there is no reclassification of what constitutes personal information in this Bill. The definition of personal information in the Bill has been updated simply to take account of changes in the 17 years since the 1997 Act was drafted. In that regard, the reference to the Civil Registration Act in the definition of personal information relates to civil status. It does not matter whether a person is married or unmarried and it should not matter whether a person is in a civil partnership. That is not the type of information that should be accessible. We have updated the legislation to include other things. Basically, it takes account of the changes in the legal position of civil partnership since the original Freedom of Information Act was enacted.

I have also included information on whether an individual was or was not a member of a trade union, because there are many places where a person would not be employed if the employer knew he was a member of a trade union.