Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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642. To ask the Minister for Health if he has been notified by each hospital of its policies for the release of medical records to persons who were raised in mother and baby homes, industrial schools or adopted and whose mothers and fathers have passed away and who need access to their family's medical records for health reasons; if the Supreme Court decision of 2011 where the Rotunda Hospital won a case against a person seeking the medical records of a paternal grandfather who had passed away has had an impact on the ability of persons to get family medical records, even if they were raised in mother and baby homes, industrial schools or adopted; if his Department has had any communication with the Data Protection Commissioner in relation to this court case and its implications; if his Department has spoken with each individual hospital regarding this court case and its impact on persons' access to medical records; if his Department has not made these requests or contacted each individual hospital, if the Health Service Executive has done so; if the HSE has done so, whether it is possible to get a list of each hospital and each of their individual policies on the granting of medical records to family members raised in mother and baby homes, industrial schools or adopted and whose mothers and fathers have passed away; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25392/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The principle underlying legislation governing the release of information is that it is the duty of public bodies to release information to the greatest extent possible consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy. In line with the Programme for Government, the Freedom of Information Bill, due to be enacted later this year, provides for a general right of access to records held by public bodies. It sets out that in applying exemptions, the right of access should only be set aside where the exemptions very clearly support a refusal of access. This is intended to overcome any uncertainty inadvertently caused by the Supreme Court judgment in the Rotunda case referred to by the Deputy.

When dealing with requests for records from parents or guardians or requests relating to deceased persons, my Department and the HSE must abide by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts. S.I. 387 of 2009 deals with this issue and the Minister for Finance issued a Guidance Note (), to assist staff in the HSE and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in this regard.

The Department of Finance Freedom of Information Central Policy Unit advised public bodies that requests for personal information under the Freedom of Information Acts should be taken as a request under the Data Protection Acts and when considering refusing access, should check that such refusal is permitted under the Data Protection Acts and vice versa.

I am referring the remainder of the Deputy's question to the HSE for direct reply.