Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister comment on the announcement and findings by the Data Protection Commission regarding the application of GDPR to the archive? The commission observed that, apart from a database which is being sent to the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, the records will be sealed for the next three decades. The Data Protection Commission provided a number of observations on this. According to an article in The Irish Examiner, Deputy commissioner Graham Doyle stated that "the 2018 Data Protection Act, itself drafted in order to enact the EU’s powerful General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within Irish law, 'explicitly amended' the 2004 Commissions of Investigation Act so that 'any restriction on the right to access personal data processed by the Commission can only be implemented 'to the extent necessary and proportionate to safeguard the effective operation of commissions and the future cooperation of witnesses'." Mr. Doyle said "It would appear to the [Data Protection Commission] to be the case that the separate provisions of the 2004 Act in relation to the sealing of documents were not intended in the context of the amendment to the 2018 Act to provide an effective ‘blanket’ barrier to the exercise of rights". Does the Minister want to respond to this information, which is just breaking in a report in the Irish Examiner today? The Data Protection Commission is saying that the Government is breaking the law by sealing the mother and baby homes records.