John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, further to a previous parliamentary question, the type of data that was stored on the laptop that was reported stolen from his Department; and if the people whose data was stored on these laptops were notified. [32708/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Laptops distributed to staff within my Department are used primarily to facilitate secure remote access to the Department's computer network and applications and to assist staff in preparing work related presentations, spreadsheets and documents. While accessing the system remotely, the corporate data continues to be stored in the Department's secure data centre rather than on the laptop.

Regarding the laptops that were reported stolen, the data contained on these laptops was work related presentations, spreadsheets and documents. None of the laptops contained personal information. When a laptop is reported lost or stolen, access by that device to the Department's computer network is immediately suspended and use of the device is blocked. All laptops are protected by use of a user-id and password. In addition, the Department has commenced a programme of encrypting all laptops used by its staff.