Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One could say it was the electoral wind but he would have said it was something different.

The other point is that in this context, the term "electoral" may have to be defined as including campaigns to amend the Constitution and referendum campaigns. Elections are different from referendums. A political party, its members or a candidate for election to or a holder of electoral office are very personal and restrictive categories and I think they should be broadened and the phrase "by or on behalf of" should be introduced. To grant the right to process data to an independent candidate in Kerry South is not much good. He cannot sit at home processing all his own data. Somebody has to do it on his behalf. Likewise, a party's members may or may not be the people who sit down to draw up the lists and collate the information that has come back.

I fully agree with Senator Higgins that we have to have an eye on the Big Brother aspects of Cambridge Analytica. I note that the latter has Steve Bannon among its former directors, which sets alarm bells ringing in many people's minds. However, I am much more concerned with what happens in Ireland. I do not want to talk about the pro-life referendum at this stage in this context because that will only distract people. However, it is perfectly legitimate for groups of people who are not members of political parties to organise in order to change the Constitution or to resist change to the Constitution. I know, for example, in the context of the upcoming referendum, there are campaigning groups that are not political parties being formed on both sides of the issue. I am worried that the language being proposed here is very narrow in scope and should be broader if we are really to have a healthy democracy.

The other aspect Senator Higgins might take into account is that processing data does not necessarily mean giving it to somebody or receiving it from somebody else. Processing refers to anything one does at all, such as, for example, converting a list of people who said they would vote for one into a list of those to whom one might write reminding them that polling day is the day after tomorrow or whatever. It is not just a matter of people harvesting data from Facebook sites internationally, moving them around the world and engaging in this kind of "Star Wars" existence, which is frightening. The more I hear about it, the more frightened I become. The bit that worries me, however, is that what we are legislating for here, if it is going to be upheld by the Data Protection Commission from here on, could be extremely restrictive.

As somebody who has contested many general elections, one thing that I always am slightly annoyed about is "no junk mail" notices. If I want to communicate with my voters through a newsletter or whatever, I do not consider my newsletter to be junk mail. Rather, I consider it my right to tell them why I am standing and, at the very least, communicate with them in an ordinary way. Unless it is going to be done by post with a stamp for every communication or whatever, the only way we can do that is to get our material through their letterboxes. I am afraid that the no-junk-mail mentality would apply to data subjects, which would make it extremely difficult for political parties for non-party political movements to carry out their activities.

A group was established to oppose the referendum to abolish this House. I was part of that group and was a member of one of its committees. There were approximately 200 or 300 people in the group.When I was standing for election to the Seanad on the NUI panel, I wrote to the individuals who had been in that group who I could identify as NUI voters to say that I was standing on a reform the Seanad campaign. I got two snotty replies to say how dare I process data and communicate with people about a subject about which we were supposedly all in agreement about a year earlier. For a few weeks I feared that I would be reported to the Data Protection Commissioner for abusing one list in order to write to people when I knew they had an interest in the subject. I apologise if I am not soaring into the heights of Cambridge Analytica. I am concerned about what happens on people's doorsteps. I am concerned that groups that want to campaign in referendums should have their rights protected and accommodated in the same way as party politicians. I am concerned that a political party and its members are in one category but that a personal candidate or the holder of an office is put in the other category. Most personal candidates are not in a position to process much data by themselves. I ask that we consider the language here and, not to be obstructive or negative, I ask the Minister to give some indication that he will look at these issues again because it has to be brought to the other House, even if it has to come back here after this Report Stage. I want to ensure that these issues are addressed.