Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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261. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps taken or that are ongoing to reassure the victims of mother and baby homes in respect of their recently expressed concerns; if he is satisfied regarding the adequacy of the provisions made to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40994/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I understand the Deputy's concerns are in relation to transfer of the archives of the Commission of Investigation to my Department and the arrangements being developed to allow for individuals to apply for access to their personal information which may be within these records.

I can clarify that the archive of records from the Commission of Investigation must be transferred to my Department by 28 February 2021, when the Commission is dissolved in law. My Department is working intensively to ensure that it can effectively manage subject access requests from possibly very large numbers of people who were resident in mother and baby homes, specifically seeking access to the Commission's records.

In that regard, my officials 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.

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.

I am acutely conscious of the desire of many former residents of these institutions to access their early life information and I hope to develop new and expanded Information and Tracing legislation in 2021 to facilitate this, in so far as possible.