Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a somewhat technical issue. I do not think there is a point in belabouring it. I know the Minister of State and his officials are very aware of the difficulties being caused by the inconsistency between the definition of "public body" in this Bill and the definition set out in the Data Protection Acts. There are public authorities and public bodies under the Data Protection Acts and there will be another definition under this data-sharing legislation. The effect of this will be that certain bodies which are authorities for the purposes of the Data Protection Acts will be public bodies for the purposes of this legislation. I feel that the potential for confusion exists. I appreciate that it might be difficult to unravel this one. This amendment is noting that and putting a marker down.

Amendment Nos. 14 and 15 are included in this grouping. There is concern about the fact that the definition of "public body" in this Bill includes commercial or private companies that may be contracted to deliver public services or functions. Amendment No. 14 attempts to ensure "the Minister will make and publish regulations on suitable and specific" measures to make sure it is not the case that commercial activities taking place within companies that have contracts for the delivery of public services, which will be considered to be public bodies under this Bill, are not suitably corrected. Amendment No. 15 seeks to address situations in which bodies that are considered to be public bodies under this legislation may also have commercial interests. It is the same concern.

I will let the Minister of State speak on amendment No. 79 because it is a Government amendment. I know he has looked at this key issue. I appreciate that it is difficult to reconcile the Data Protection Acts and the Bill before the House. I am very concerned about the commercial companies. This matter will arise at a later stage of this debate when we talk about the data governance board. I note that this Bill proposes to give the Minister the power to hire consultants, for example, in respect of the data governance board. We need to be very careful when commercial actors are operating in a public service delivery and public regulatory space.