Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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532. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the way in which his Department is facilitating and addressing subject data access requests by survivors of institutional abuse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49633/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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On 28 February 2021, with the dissolution of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, my Department became the data controller for all the personal data contained in the records and databases that transferred from the Commission.

My Department is responsible for fulfilling data subject rights, including the right of access to personal data. I am very mindful of the importance to former residents of Mother and Baby Homes of access to their personal data.

Information relevant to making a SAR is available on my Department's website. The webpage also includes a detailed guide to making a SAR that provides responses to Frequently Asked Questions. The guide includes information on the different means available to make a SAR such as by email, post or other means.

In addition, my Department also operates a dedicated telephone information line which provides information to callers on procedures for making a SAR in respect of records relating to the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation.

My Department, in consultation with the Attorney General, developed guidelines which set out the steps that must be taken in response to each subject access request. In addition, my Department has engaged external data protection consultants to support the processing of SARs.

The right of a person to obtain a copy of their personal data, contained in Article 15 of the GDPR, is not absolute. It is specifically limited by reference to the rights of others, which must not be adversely affected by the right of a data subject to obtain a copy of their personal data. Therefore, in responding to a SAR, my Department must consider the rights of the data subject and also ensure that the rights and freedoms of others are not adversely affected. The consideration of adverse effects and the balancing of rights test is a critical part of the SAR process and can be highly complex.

As of 30 September 2022, my Department received 744 SARs relating to the Mother and Baby Homes archive and responded to 686 of these.