Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This amendment provides clarity in relation to the function of the data protection commission under section 90. It clarifies what is already implicit in section 90(3), which is where the commission informs a data subject that it has carried out all necessary verifications or reviews in response to his or her request. It is not obliged to inform the data subject concerned whether his or her personal data have been, or are being, processed.

A particular risk arising under this section, for example, is that an individual who suspects that the Director of Public Prosecutions may be considering the possibility of prosecuting him or her, possibly for an offence committed many years earlier, may seek to exercise his or her right of access, indirectly, through the data protection commission. While the commission will be obliged under this section to verify or review the lawfulness of processing, this amendment will ensure that legal action cannot be taken against the commission to force it to reveal the outcome of its verification or review. Let us remember that we are dealing with criminal justice issues.