Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening remarks and for the humility of his approach, especially in the past week. In Irish society there have been few occasions where we have felt the gut-wrenching anger of our citizens with regard to the treatment of previous generations of Irish women and men. We have definitely felt the anger, the hurt and the sense of revisiting the humiliation inflicted on these women and men over many years. I wish to speak to amendment No. 1. I welcome the Minister's decision to keep a copy of the entire archive for himself. Given the previously stated policy of his officials was not to open any of the boxes and, therefore, they would not have access to the information in the archives, I am curious to know whether he intends to respond to data requests from data subjects. Those requests will come. Regardless of whether one agrees with Article 15 - I do not - regarding the commission's use of the data, the responses it has given to data subject requests in recent years have not been worth the paper they were written on due to the redactions. The commission used the provision whereby it could determine it necessary and proportionate to refuse the information on the basis that it would hinder its ongoing work. We are all waiting in anticipation for the 4,000-page report. It will be very telling about how the State has dealt with another chapter in Irish history.

I will not table an amendment, but this is a vital point. For the avoidance of doubt, does the Minister intend the GDPR legislation and the get-out clause used by the commission to apply to the archive that will be deposited with him? Will he maintain the blanket seal on the archive and refuse to reply to data subject requests? If so, how will he reply when people come looking for that information, which they will?