Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have some sympathy with the issue at hand. I acknowledge the reasons advanced in support of the far-reaching new section that is being proposed. The position I am adopting in respect of it is the same as the position I adopted earlier when I dealt with a proposal that was first mooted at the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. I am not going to accept it now because I believe we need an opportunity for further consideration of its provisions. I will revisit this amendment, which seeks to deal with the risk that a data protection officer may encounter a lack of co-operation, on Report Stage. I may even have an opportunity to come back to him in advance of Report Stage. In exploring whether an effective remedy is already available to data protection officers, I will look in particular at the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. Senators will be aware that a disclosure of relevant information is protected under that Act if, in the reasonable belief of a worker, it tends to show a relevant wrongdoing and it came to his or her attention in connection with the worker's employment. Section 5(3) of the 2014 Act defines "relevant wrongdoing" as including circumstances in which "a person has failed, is failing or is likely to fail to comply with a legal obligation". I think this would include the obligations of a data controller under the general data protection regulation and this legislation, including the controller's obligations towards the data protection officer.

Section 6 of the 2014 Act provides for the making of a protected disclosure to a worker's employer. Section 7 of that Act provides for disclosure to an external person who has been prescribed in an order made by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. We will come back to this. I draw the further attention of Senators to Statutory Instrument No. 339 of 2014, in which the Minister prescribed a range of persons whom, by reason of the nature of their statutory responsibilities or functions, appear appropriate as recipients of protected disclosures. This order prescribes the Data Protection Commissioner as a recipient of disclosures in respect of all matters concerning compliance with data protection law. Subject to verification, I am of the view that this may provide an effective remedy when a data protection officer is concerned that he or she is experiencing difficulty in the performance of his or her functions. A further advantage would be that any data protection officer making such a protected disclosure would be in a position to draw on the extensive protections provided under Part 3 of the 2014 Act. When we come back to this matter, I will have a further opportunity to give the Senator appropriate assurances that this matter has been adequately dealt with and to see whether I can accommodate the proposal she has made.I ask the Senator to give me a further opportunity to get back to her with appropriate assurances that the matter has already been adequately dealt with or that we will see if we can accommodate the proposal made by the Senator.