Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 4, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “(3) Neither this Act nor the Act of 2004 shall operate to prevent the Agency from processing, or authorising the processing, of information—

(a) for archiving, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, in accordance with section 42 of the Data Protection Act 2018, or

(b) by providing information about a deceased person to a brother, sister, son,daughter, nephew, niece, grandson, granddaughter, grandnephew or grandniece of the deceased person.”.

I will speak to Labour Party amendments Nos. 12 and 24. I think I speak for my colleagues who have put forward the other amendments in this group that these amendments are about seeking to provide survivors and families with access to information in different ways. The amendments offer a variety of means by which people may access information or records held by the commission or prepared by the commission that may provide them with information on their identity or the identity of family members. As has been said previously by others, including by me in my Second Stage speech and consistently during this Stage, this is a core issue for so many survivors in this legislation. The Minister mentioned in his opening statement, and a number of other times today, that this legislation is not about providing access to information. It should be, and that is the point we are making in these amendments.

Amendment No. 12 seeks to set aside the default rule that if this legislation did not pass, the archive of the commission would be deposited with the Minister and be sealed for 30 years under the 2004 Act. We are trying to carve out an exception to that rule, but one that enables the processing of information for archival purposes and that enables information about deceased persons to be passed on to family members. The overwhelming majority of the messages we have received are about people who are desperate to get that information, which is information that helps them to uncover information about their identity and some knowledge about their origin or the origins or lives of people in their family. This is crucial. References to this legislation being technical and related to a database has caused such people distress. This is information about living people today and people who lived, died and were family members, about whom they know so little, but about whom they also know records exist and are kept by State agencies to which they cannot have access currently. Amendment No. 12 seeks only to carve out a limited exception to the 2004 Act and other provisions of this Bill so that they will not operate prevent the agency from authorising the processing of information for archival, scientific or historical research purposes or for providing information about a deceased person to that group of family members. We are trying to change the default, as the Minister says he is trying to do with this legislation, but to change it in such a way that it respects the rights and wishes of individuals who may seek their identity information. This a core and important principle for us.

Amendment No. 24 seeks to do something else. Other Senators have signed up to this amendment. I thank Dr. Meave O'Rourke who has done so much work with all of us on amendments to try to improve the legislation. The amendment seeks in a different way to provide access to individuals who seek personal data relating to them. What we are seeking to do in this amendment in referring to the data protection regulation is to enable the Minister to respond to requests for personal data in the commission's archive when he receives it. We believe there is no principled reason the Oireachtas should not legislate to ensure that the Minister, in this case Deputy O'Gorman, can respond to personal data access requests once he has taken receipt of the archive. We are not bound by the 2004 Act. We can legislate to change the sealing requirements, as we are doing in this legislation by enabling Tusla to take the database. So too can we legislate to enable people to access their personal data through the data protection regulations or by amending this legislation, as we have proposed in amendment No. 12, setting out this exception to the 2004 Act and enabling people to access information.

For us, No. 12 is the core amendment. Amendment No. 24 and the other amendments offer alternative means, but all of them are about trying to ensure people have access to identity information, in some cases about their birth and in other cases about the births or deaths of family members. It is a critical principle for us that seeks to secure protection for the right to information, to identity and to rebalance the rights in that way, which is more important for the survivors.