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

To go back to what individuals will know and when they will know it, one of the provisions we included in the Bill, and one I was very keen on at the outset, is the personal access portal. This will give a person real-time information in terms of what information, if any, a body has accessed about him or her. I also said that when the Bill becomes law, as I hope it will, it is my intention that guidance will be issued by the board to agencies, including the lead agencies, setting out what they must do.

The Senator is right. I envisage thousands of agreements will be required. As I said previously in the House, we are in limbo at the moment regarding the collection and sharing of information.

In terms of what will be done by way of clarity, as sought by the Senator, I noted previously the construct of the data governance board and the requirement on it to provide guidance and information to agencies. In addition, real-time information will be available to citizens and will make a major contribution and will be part of the scaffolding that will make all aspects of the Bill work. If the Senator and I can see in real time what information relating to us is being accessed, what information about us is available and the type of information about us that is being shared, to borrow a phrase she used, that will have a chilling effect and create the deterrent the agencies need. Unfortunately, historically and recently in this State we have seen that data have not been properly handled. That is the reason we want to try to mitigate that.

I discussed this in the Dáil at length with Deputies. The deletion of the subsection clears up the position in respect of the maintenance and management of the dataset.I understand the concerns about the number of these agreements, the management of them, people having their say and being able to keep on top of matters. It will be difficult, there will be many of them, they will be onerous and require considerable attention from people who are interested in this area, but that is what is required. We need put this on a legal footing. We need to start by acknowledging that thousands of these agreements could be put in place. I hope that allays the Senator's concern.