Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator's amendment proposes the deletion of section 5(2) and (3) of the Bill, which relate to section 38 of the Data Protection Act 2018. This section of the Data Protection Act provides that a Minister may make regulations for the processing of data for a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority. Data sharing is included in the definition of data processing in the GDPR and the Data Protection Act. In regard to the Senator's comments, we are not doing anything to dilute or undermine anything. In effect, we are strengthening the existing provisions. Everything we are doing is with regard to the existing provisions. It means that it is currently lawful for a Minister to make an order under section 38(4) of the Data Protection Act authorising two or more public bodies to share data to carry out their functions. Section 5(2) and (3) of this Bill are intended to prevent public bodies from side-stepping this Bill by making regulations for data sharing under section 38 of the Data Protection Act. It is a reaffirmation of section 38. The Data Sharing and Governance Bill recognises that data sharing is of particular importance in the context of personal data processing and, as such, sets out additional processes that must be followed before data sharing is permitted. The Senator's proposed amendment would establish a more permissive data sharing regime than the one currently set out in the Bill. On that basis, I cannot support the amendment and encourage the Senator to withdraw it.