Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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101. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the preparations his Department is making to enable provision of personal data to survivors of mother and baby homes in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39848/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The archives of the Commission of Investigation will be transferred to my Department by 28 February 2021, when the Commission of Investigation is dissolved. My Department is working intensively to ensure that it is properly resourced to handle subject access requests from possibly very large numbers of people who were resident in mother and baby homes.

In that regard, they are also liaising with the Office of the Attorney General to clarify the nature of the balancing tests which must apply to the release of personal information, both under the GDPR itself as transposed by the Data Protection Act 2018, and under section 39 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, as amended by the Data Protection Act 2018.

The right to personal data is not an unqualified one, and it is vital that in providing a person with information, we do not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others as protected by law. In addition, the particular legal regime applying to a Commission of Investigation requires us to consider whether release of data may prejudice the effective operation of commissions and the future cooperation of witnesses.

That said, I want to emphasise that I am committed to ensuring that information is made available as freely as possible, within the confines of the law.

I have already reached out to a number of experts- national and international- and sought a meeting to hear their considered views on these matters. My officials are engaging with the Office of the Attorney General and I will ensure that any independent views are shared with that Office.

However, ultimately, under the law as it stands, there will be constraints on the information which can be released. This underlines the importance of enacting a robust legal regime to underpin access to birth information and tracing services.

I have given a commitment in this regard, that I will bring forward fresh proposals on information and tracing next year. The intention is that the legislation will support individuals to access more information than is currently accessible to them under GDPR or FOI.

At a practical level, My Department is urgently examining the resource requirements to ensure that a potentially large volume of subject access requests can be managed in a timely and effective manner. This will involve the development of suitable in-house expertise, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Data Protection Commissioner.