Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There was a significant discussion on Committee Stage about some of the GDPR provisions. I reflected on the points made by Senator Higgins. I was unable to accept her amendments then and I am not in a position to accept the amendments she will be putting forward today. However, I have tried to go some way in addressing some of the GDPR issues she raised, particularly issues pertaining to the retention of information.

Section 15 of the Bill amends section 27 of the Parental Leave Act 1998, which provides for the retention of records to be held by an employer in respect of the forms of leave and entitlements under the Act. Section 15 provides that records relating to leave for the purposes of medical care, and the right to request a flexible working arrangement, should be held for three years only. The requirements of the GDPR regulation are that third party data should only be held for as long as necessary. Anything in extension of this period could be in breach of those regulations. There is an obligation on the employer to destroy records.

This amendment is a technical amendment to include an explicit provision to provide that records relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, leave be held for three years. I recommend the amendment be accepted.