Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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69. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps which he is taking to restrict the right to be forgotten under GDPR by convicted sex offenders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2035/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the General Data Protection Regulation is an EU Regulation, by which Ireland is bound and the European Court of Justice is responsible for the interpretation of European law, including the GDPR. 

The "right to be forgotten" is a data protection right which the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) established in the 2014 “Google Spain” case and was subsequently legislated for in the GDPR.  In this ruling, the CJEU established that users can ask search engines to hide certain URLs from search results when a search is conducted using their name and the content on the page the URL points to includes information that is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive.”

It gives people the right to seek the deletion of their data from a site, however, it does not give a guarantee this will be done.

The Court established in the "Google Spain" and subsequent cases that the right to be forgotten does not apply to information that is relevant to the public interest, including previous convictions for sexual crimes.

I want to be very clear here in saying that the GDPR does not give convicted sex offenders any automatic right to have their previous convictions deleted from search engines.

While it is not open to me, as Minister for Justice, to change the application or interpretation of the GDPR, I understand the Deputy’s concerns and I am determined keep our communities safe.

The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill, which I am currently bringing through the Oireachtas will strengthen our already robust system for monitoring sex offenders. The Bill will reduce, from 7 to 3 days, the period for sex-offenders to inform Gardaí -

- of their name and address within 3 days of leaving prison;

- of any change to their name or address within 3 days;

- if they are going to be outside the State for more than 3 days;

- if they are returning to the State having been outside it for 3 days;

- if they are at an address in the State for 3 days and that address has not been notified to AGS;

or every 12 months if they had not notified within the previous 12 months

The Bill will also allow for the electronic tagging of offenders and for the Gardaí to disclose information about a sex offender’s previous convictions to a member or members of the public where the offender poses a risk of causing harm.

Later this year I will also bring forward a further Sexual Offences Bill to ensure this important area of law is kept up to date.