Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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117. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the progress made in the past month in relation to making information available from the evidence collected in the preparation of the mother and baby homes report to persons seeking to find out about their children that were in the homes or children born in the homes trying to trace their parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40787/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation will stand dissolved in law on 28th February 2021 and is due to submit its archive of records to myself as the specified Minister by that date.

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.

It is important to acknowledge that subject access requests may not necessarily provide all of the information that the requester wishes to see. This is why the Government’s commitment to birth information and tracing legislation remains such a strong priority.