Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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591. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of data access requests her Department has made to telecoms companies and social media companies here in the past three years to date under the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011; the number of access requests that were approved and declined by the companies from which the data was requested; and the reason the data was sought. [38854/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is not a designated body with powers under Section 6 of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011.

Provision was made in December 2014 for the secondment of a number of Gardaí to my Department. There are 20 Gardaí currently working as part of the Department’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU) with a Sergeant also now part of the SIU Team. Gardaí on secondment retain their Garda powers, which can significantly assist in investigating suspected fraud cases. I am currently establishing whether any Gardaí on secondment to my Department have in fact used the provisions of Section 6 while on secondment. Due to pressure of work in my Department it has not been possible to establish the full position to date. Officials from my Department have been in touch with the Deputy’s office directly to explain the position and will revert to her once the full position has been established.