Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 1042: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the details of all instances since 1 June 2002 where personal data held by her Department or any agency under its auspices were compromised in any way; if the review by her Department of data security procedures announced on 22 November 2007 is completed; and the findings of that review in terms both of prior shortcomings and of future actions. [2160/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are a range of measures in place to safeguard personal data held by various business units in my Department. My Department has produced a set of guidelines for all staff which sets out the issues to be considered when collecting, storing and processing personal data. Staff are made aware of their obligations under the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003 at induction courses when they join the Department and at Records Management Training courses. The guidelines prepared by the Department have been approved by the Data Protection Commissioner. If a person or organisation thinks that a person or organisation has not met their obligations under the Data Protection Acts then they can make a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has confirmed that a total of 22 complaints in relation to this Department have been made to the Commissioner since that office was established in 1989. These complaints would not necessarily relate to instances where personal data has been compromised. Of these, one complaint is currently being processed and all other complaints have been resolved. Data is currently being compiled in relation to agencies and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

The review of systems and procedures in relation to the protection of personal information is ongoing and therefore I am not in a position to comment on the findings of the review at this time.