Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I bring the motion to the House to seek a resolution to agree the draft Data Protection Act 2018 section 60(6) (Central Bank of Ireland) Regulations 2020, as provided for under section 6(5)(a) of the Data Protection Act 2018. Senators will have gathered from the gist of this that it is a technical matter. I have a detailed script but perhaps the best thing I can do is to explain what this is about in simple English.

These regulations were prepared a number of years ago and involved the Data Protection Commissioner, the Department of Finance and the Central Bank. All parties agreed. A full consultation took place. The statutory instrument was agreed by both Houses of the Oireachtas and it was signed by the Minister as approved by both Houses.

It subsequently transpired, a couple of months later, when somebody was working on the printed copy of the statutory instrument that it did not fully tally with what had been passed, approved and signed by the Minister. An error occurred at the printing stage as a result of which some sub-paragraphs were indented after a particular line rather than before it. It could have resulted in a different interpretation of the regulations because the indentation of three sub-paragraphs happened in the wrong place.

The Department of Finance obtained legal advice and felt it was better to check the matter out. It was agreed that it would be better to redo the statutory instrument to be sure, to be sure. However, because it involved data protection legislation, it required to come before both Houses for approval. It is unusual that the correction of a statutory instrument has to come back before the House through a motion of approval before the Minister can get the printed version of it corrected.

That is the beginning and the end of it. There was a printing mistake but because it involves data protection, it requires a motion of both Houses to amend the statutory instrument. It is an unusual one. It is a minor but significant issue. I will perhaps pre-empt some questions when I say that when we went back through the process a second time, to get it right this time, we again consulted the Data Protection Commissioner, the Central Bank and the Department of Finance. They are all happy with what is in front of us today. It requires the approval of the House.