Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There have been partnerships, even involving the Government, with bodies where serious concerns have been raised, for example, relating to DNA processing and so forth. There is a history of some unfortunate partnerships between the State and commercial entities. That is why I brought forward these amendments. The Minister referred to functions, but those functions also provide for various partnerships. The danger is that they may be commercial partnerships. In that context, I am trying to add a safeguard within such partnerships.

This is an issue to which we must return. It is not enough to point to the GDPR, given that the GDPR provides exemptions. It is a question of how those will be applied and where the balancing will be. Under the research legislation, perhaps we can revert to the issues around commercial purposes as they sit within research or partnerships. We have seen some examples of poor practice. Students are sharing their data with their respective higher education institutions, which are then sharing those data onwards. It is important that we be clear around the purposes in that regard. Simply saying that the purposes are within the functions is a wide statement. The persons giving the data need to be clear on those purposes.

I accept that this is a complicated matter. It is not as simple as saying that the GDPR is law - I am familiar with the 2018 legislation - but we also need to examine how it is applied in practice and learn from poor instances of that. Perhaps we can revert to this matter under the research legislation.