Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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203. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the suspension by the data access unit of her Department of the pension tracing service which had assisted with pension beneficiaries in tracing their pension entitlements; the number of queries which the system handled in each of the years 2016 to 2018; the number of such queries which were successfully completed in each year; her plans to assist persons with tracing their entitlements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16906/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The service provided by my Department to pension companies who wished to contact customers in relation to their pension entitlements was temporarily suspended, pending legal advice being obtained regarding compliance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  

Following further legal advice and the carrying out of a Data Privacy Impact Assessment, as provided for under the GDPR, the service has now resumed.  

It is important to note that letters are sent to the address on record in the Department for the individual concerned, which ask the person to contact the pension company.  As the individuals do not make contact the Department, it is not possible to state whether the persons subsequently contact the pension company.

In terms of the number of requests handled by the Department, the figures requested by the Deputy are as follows:

2016  -3,635

2017  -3,528

2018  -3,384

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.