Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would be happy to give it further consideration but I believe over the last while, between Senator McDowell on the one hand and Senator Higgins on the other, we have seen the need to engage in a type of balancing that will allow for ongoing engagement with the public on the part of people running for office, having particular regard to this being a special aspect of engagement that might not necessarily be the case in other countries.

I refer to the concept of door-to-door canvassing and the level of competition in the course of an election, in the run up to an election or during times when an election is not taking place, the type of engagement we have with our electorate being probably somewhat closer or perhaps even more personal than might be the case in other jurisdictions. It is precisely because of this that I believe section 43 is important, the importance of it also being in the context of it confining the processing of data revealing political opinions to parties and candidates for elections, those going for office, a referendum commission and those engaged in active political participation. I am a little concerned that amendments Nos. 29 and 30 do not fully accord with the reading of Article 9.2(d) of the GDPR. They would appear to merely transpose that provision into national law which, to my mind, is not as clear or as potentially wide in scope as section 43.