Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 21, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:“(5) The annual report should include a list of organisations found in breach of this Act during the period covered by the report.”.

This amendment refers to organisations that are in breach of the Act and proposes that they be listed in the annual report of the Data Protection Commissioner. In these amendments we are trying to ensure that we would have greater transparency and a greater capacity to identify trends in data breaches or where we have a situation where multiple breaches are occurring that we are able to identify the sectors in which they are occurring and respond to them. At present the Data Protection Commissioner will report on those cases which have gone through court proceedings and moved to the courts. There are, however, many cases where breaches will have been recorded but may not proceed to a court. We would certainly not want a case where every breach would go through a lengthy and gruelling court proceedings. In order to ensure there is accountability without needing to have recourse to court proceedings, it would be very useful if, in the powers and in the intentions of the functions of the Data Protection Commission, that in its annual report it would also include a list of those organisations, public or private, that have been found to be in breach of the law. We would then have a sense and the pattern is public and that we are not simply reliant on those cases that have gone to the courts. I think it would be very useful and also would allow us to identify instances of multiple breaches. The Minister might respond to this point.

Amendment No. 65 brings a further layer of transparency and will ensure that where complaint cases have been taken and decisions made that the information would be shared on the decisions made on the complaints.