Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 375: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the measures or policies that have been implemented to prevent loss of private data from laptops, blackberries and other hand-held devices in his Department; if he is satisfied that all personal information held within his Department is secure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35672/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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All data held in my Department, including personal data, is protected by both physical and technical safeguards. My Department's policy is that all portable electronic data devices are encrypted. Full hard disk encryption has been implemented on all laptops issued by my Department in the past three years. The Department does not issue blackberry devices and the small number of hand held devices we do have are used purely for scheduling and official contacts purposes.

I am satisfied that all personal information held within my Department is secure. All officials are bound by the provisions of the Official Secrets Act. In addition, on the day of their appointment, all officials of my Department are made aware of their responsibilities under the Data Protection Acts. Each Division has a nominated Data Protection Coordinator and, earlier this year, my Department launched a dedicated Data Protection Intranet Page, to facilitate and encourage ongoing awareness of data protection responsibilities among all staff.

The provisions of the Data Protection Acts are kept under regular review by my Department, to ensure our ongoing compliance. The categories of personal data retained by my Department are reviewed annually, to ensure that our obligation to register these with the Data Protection Commissioner is discharged.

Over the past year, the Department has been placing a particular focus on increasing awareness among all staff of their obligations under the Data Protection Acts and is working with the Office of the DPC in this regard. The Data Protection Commissioner recently gave a briefing to the Department's Data Protection Divisional Coordinators and we will continue to liaise with his Office.