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

With your indulgence, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, I wish to give notice of Report Stage amendments I intend to introduce. I have referred to some of these in the discussion this evening. I have also taken time to reflect on some of the issues raised during last week’s Committee Stage debate and on Second Stage.

On foot of the discussion about the application of the Bill to special category data, I intend to propose an amendment to Part 2 that will make it explicit that the Bill does not permit sharing of special category data, except for Parts 5 and 8. There may be consequential technical amendments to other sections of the Bill arising from this. The Office of the Attorney General will examine this and advise accordingly during drafting.

I will revisit the definition of a "public body" under section 9 to see if it can be better aligned with the Data Protection Act. However, on initial re-examination it is not easy to see what can be changed and I cannot guarantee that I will be proposing an amendment here.

I will amend section 12(2)(a)(ii)(III) to provide that sharing for the purpose of avoiding a financial and administrative burden shall only be where this is to the benefit of the person receiving the service and not the public body providing the service. Again, there may be consequential amendments in other sections that refer to this purpose. The Attorney General will advise on this during the drafting process.

I will propose a number of amendments to section 18, which sets out the content of the data-sharing agreements. In conjunction with the Attorney General, I will see if it is feasible to provide that the parties to an agreement shall specify the basis on which data is to be processed in a manner along the lines Senator Higgins proposed under amendment No. 14.I will also look at adding a requirement under section 18 for public bodies to make a formal undertaking in the data-sharing agreement to abide by the principles of data protection as set out in Article 5 of the GDPR. This will address the various amendments the Senator proposed requiring public bodies to have regard to necessity and proportionality of sharing. I note the Senator's strong views on the obligation to use a base registry under section 42. While the scope for accepting changes is limited, I will examine the section again to see if any amendment might be possible. The Attorney General is also considering a technical amendment that may be required for this section.

I will table amendments to section 44, as I outlined during the discussions on amendments Nos. 20, 21, 22 and 22a. As we have discussed, I will re-examine sections 47 and 48 to see what might be done to address the provisions concerning the composition of the data governance board and its committees. I have accepted amendment No. 24dto section 48, subject to the wording being in order. If a technical amendment is required here to give full effect to this, I will table the amendment on Report Stage.

I propose to amend section 55(1)(b) to provide that the parties to a data sharing agreement shall outline whether they considered carrying out a data protection impact assessment. This is the best way to address the issues raised by Senator Alice-Mary Higgins in amendment No. 15. I will table an amendment to section 62 to provide for a minimum two-week consultation period for the data sharing agreement, in accordance with the commitment I made during the discussion on amendment No. 25. I will consider making an amendment to section 64 to provide that the Minister shall issue a rule, procedure or standard on suitable safeguards to protect against inappropriate accessing or processing of data shared under the Bill. Hopefully, this will address the issues raised by the Senator in amendment No. 10.

Finally, I will table an amendment to add the National Shared Services Office to the list of specified bodies under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. Members may recall that the office was established as a separate legal entity from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform by legislation enacted last year. There is a need to create a specific legal basis for the office to process personal public service numbers, PPSN, and public service identity data as part of its activities.