Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Group 4 deals with aspects of sections 7, 8 and 14. Amendments Nos. 6, 7 and 10 make a number of technical adjustments to subsections (3) and (4) of section 7 and to section 14. Amendments Nos. 8 and 65 concern the scope of section 8. They clarify that the data protection commission must complete any investigation under section 10 of the 1988 Act that was commenced by the Data Protection Commissioner but not completed before the establishment of the commission. This matter was raised here during earlier discussions. They also provide that the processing of personal data under the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014 or the Vehicle Registration Data (Automated Searching and Exchange) Act 2018 shall continue to the extent that the 1988 Act applies to those Acts. These are the so-called Prüm measures, and the European Commission intends to table proposals to bring its data protection standards into line with the law enforcement directive in due course. The Prüm measures, comprising Council Decision 2008/615/JHA and 2008/616/JHA, are concerned with the automated exchange of data between member states in the matter of cross-border crime and terrorism. The data concerns DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration data. The DNA and fingerprint aspects of Prüm are provided for in the 2014 Act, while the sharing of vehicle registration data is provided for in the 2018 Act, which was signed into law less than a month ago.

Amendment No. 77 deletes section 86, which excluded Forensic Science Ireland from Part 5.

I am happy to assure Senators that any investigations commenced by the Data Protection Commissioner but not completed before the establishment of the commission, which was raised by Senator Higgins and Ó Donnghaile, does not require any great discussion, but I am very pleased to clarify the issues as raised by the Senators.