Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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721. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his Department maintains a policy on the purchase of data from companies engaged in real-time bidding on location data of Irish citizens by its agencies; details of the policy, if it exists; and if his Department, or agencies under its auspices, have engaged with, or purchased data from, companies engaged in real time bidding on location data of Irish citizens. [51868/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not engage in transactions for the purchase of such location data. I would note that the sale of data by real-time bidding platforms is not illegal, but all parties involved in such transactions must abide by all of their legal responsibilities, including those set out in Data Protection legislation.

While I am not aware of any instances in which an agency in the justice sector would have purchased such data in the normal course of carrying out their functions, any such purchases would have to be for legitimate lawful purposes.

The Deputy will appreciate that I do not comment on the detail of any security arrangements in the State.

I have sought confirmation of arrangements from relevant agencies and I will write to the Deputy once responses have been received