Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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597. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to protect the records of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes prior to the dissolution of the Commission on 28 February 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9393/21]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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629. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will consider putting in place the necessary legislation to allow full access by those affected to the entire archive of administrative files gathered by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation and to end secrecy on the way the institutions and system of family separation were run; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10240/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 597 and 629 together.

The recently enacted Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another matter, Act 2020, was passed to protect the archive of records from the Commission of Investigation.

Once the archive of records transfers to my Department under section 4 of the Act, my Department will become the data controller in respect of the personal data contained in the records. I am cognisant that, on becoming a data controller later this month, my Department will assume particular responsibilities under GDPR including the right to rectification under Article 16. It is my intention to apply the principles of GDPR to applications by individuals to seek access to their personal information.

I am also committed to legislating to provide the widest possible access to early life information for individuals seeking this information. To this end, the Heads of Bill for the forthcoming enhanced Information and Tracing legislation will be ready for pre-legislative scrutiny by the end of March or early April.

As part of its recommendations, the Commission has also highlighted the potential to further develop the database it compiled during the course of its investigation. While this will require bespoke legislation, the Government is certainly committed to further development of the database and to the creation of a central repository of records.

As a first step, my Department has appointed an archivist to lead the work on the preservation of, and public access to, the relevant records within my department. This archivist is part of a new dedicated Information Management Unit which my Department has established to lead on receipt and management of the Commission’s archive, applications for access to these records, in addition to broader records management work.