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

Group 6 relates to amendments Nos. 12, 19 and 20. Amendment No. 12 deletes section 21(6) which provides that this section is without prejudice to the rights of the data subject in respect of any or all data controllers. This has been deleted on account of significant concerns raised by the Attorney General that the wording, "This section is without prejudice to", introduces legal uncertainty as regards whether data subjects would have full access rights under the GDPR in respect of any data sharing agreements made under the legislation. Basically, it implies that there is prejudice in other sections of the Bill and that gives an erroneous impression that the GDPR does not apply in its entirety to the legislation. I know that is not the intent of the House.

Acting on the Attorney General's advice, the Dáil has agreed to delete the provision. I assure this House that the deletion of the provision does not in any way affect the data subject's right to access, rectify or delete his or her personal information as provided for under the GDPR. A person wishing to exercise these rights in respect of a data sharing arrangement made under the Bill would be entitled to apply to any of the public bodies that are parties to such an arrangement in accordance with their rights under the GDPR.

Furthermore, as the Seanad is aware, the Bill has a number of specific provisions that uphold and enhance these rights, in particular, the personal data access portal provided under Part 8 of the Bill. In addition, I will ensure that the data governance board issues guidance that emphasises that people can exercise their GDPR rights directly with any public body that is a party to the data sharing agreement.

Amendment No. 19 removes the provision at section 46(6) that any contract the data governance board enters into in respect of consultancy shall be subject to public competition. This provision was deleted on foot of significant issues raised by the Attorney General. Public procurement law applies across all public bodies and it is not the norm to specify in legislation that it particularly applies to one type of contract. The Attorney General's advice was that this provision could call into question whether other procurement law applies to some public bodies but not to others or to some types of contracts but not to others. For this reason, the provision was deleted by the Dáil. I reassure the House that the public procurement laws apply to the data governance board in the same manner that all laws of the land would apply to such a body.

Amendment No. 23 relating to the data governance board is a technical amendment to section 47(6) concerning the membership of the data governance board to add the word "persons" which is inadvertently omitted from the text.