Vol. 254 No. 6
asked the Minister for Justice whether, following an inquiry to the Government Information Bureau (details supplied) concerning allegations that gardaí in a particular area of the country were availing themselves of the completed census forms to compile Garda records concerning households, a circular on this matter was issued by his Department; and if he will state the contents of such circular.
36.
asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to a report (details supplied) to the effect that information furnished in a recent census, on the understanding that it was confidential, is now being retained in some Garda stations for other purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
37.
asked the Minister for Justice the purpose and function of the Garda household register; the method of compilation; if, in view of the existence of annual electoral registers for each area in each Garda station, he will make a statement on the matter.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 35, 36 and 37 together.
The remedial action taken in this matter was not taken as a result of an inquiry from the newspaper concerned but as a result of an allegation made about a week previously by a member of the public.
The facts are as follows.
On 19th May, 1971, the Central Statistics Office informed a senior officer at Garda Headquarters of the allegations from the member of the public which in effect was an allegation that, as well as checking the census forms as part of their duty in connection with the census, some gardaí used the forms as the easiest way of checking that the household register was up to date. The Central Statistics Office expressed serious concern at the allegation and stressed that, if it were true, such action would appear to be in breach of the obligations imposed by the Statistics Act, 1926. Accepting this view and recognising the urgency of the matter the Garda officer concerned immediately telephoned a special instruction to all divisional officers outside Dublin—the matter did not affect Dublin—that they should forthwith bring to the notice of all members that any inquiries necessary to have the register kept up to date must be made separately and that strict care must be taken not to infringe in any circumstances or in any way whatsoever the rule that the information in the census forms may not be used for any but statistical purposes. There was no circular on the matter. About a week after this was done, an inquiry was received from a journalist and he was informed of the action taken.
Up to the point where the remedial action had been taken, my Department, as distinct from the Garda, was not involved at all. Further inquiries have since been made by my Department and the following is the position that emerges. The register is a register which has been kept in all stations outside Dublin since the foundation of the State. Up to last year it contained columns for recording the name, address, occupation and the relationship to the head of the household of each person in each household in the area served by the Garda station.
These particulars were, of course, common knowledge locally but it appears to be a fact that, down the years, when the gardaí in connection with their census duties became aware of any changes in the names, addresses, or occupations, they recorded those changes in the register. By that I mean that their work on successive censuses was one way, but not the only way, that was used as a means of keeping the registers up to date.
Early last year the stock of registers was running out and, before a reprint was ordered, the gardaí decided to consider specially whether the value of the register to them was worth the trouble of keeping it, particularly because it appears that in practice the voters list may be used more than the household register when any inquiry was received at a station. The views of a crosssection of divisional officers were obtained and the matter was also considered by Garda headquarters officers. The unanimous view was that the register was of sufficient use to justify its retention and that a further column to show the date of birth should be included.
The register is regarded by the gardaí as a very useful means of enabling new members assigned to a station to familiarise themselves with their area. Date of birth is often a matter the gardaí need to know in connection with alleged offences by or against juveniles, school attendance problems or even such matters as the serving of drink to young people. The recommendation that date of birth be included was accepted by the Garda authorities at the time and reprints of the register were obtained on this basis.
It appears that the headquarters officers who examined the matter appreciated that the date of birth would not readliy be obtainable in many cases as a matter of common local knowledge and that the inclusion of a column for the date of birth implied that the local gardaí could legitimately seek the information from the census forms. It appears that they were of opinion that the obligation on the gardaí not to reveal any information they might obtain in the course of their duty in connection with the census did not preclude them from extracting the information in question from the forms as long as it was not disclosed to anybody outside the force and in fact the necessity to be strict in not disclosing information to anybody outside the force was noted by them.
The view that the only obligation is an obligation not to disclose information to persons outside the force is, as I need hardly say, quite wrong as it is clear that an authorised officer may not disclose any information obtained from the census returns even to another authorised officer unless the other authorised officer, too, is concerned in that capacity with the particular information. The full acceptance that a wrong view had been taken is reflected in the immediate and specific instruction that was issued as a matter of urgency on the day the allegation was received, namely, 19th May.
Would the Minister accept that gardaí in the midlands area, specifically in the Mullingar divisional area, expressed reservations at being asked to undertake this work? Would he further accept that, following inquiries at senior level, a memorandum was sent to that area? Several thousand forms have been examined in that area by gardaí, if I may take that area first. It is the only area with which I am familiar apart from Cork, about which I have a question down also and to which I will come. Could I have conformation of that, please?
I have no specific information about Mullingar as opposed to anywhere else, but the position, as I stated in my reply, had been as it was since the foundation of the State.
Would the Minister accept that the CSO has not given sanction for the obtaining by any gardaí of data contained in Form A, that there was never any agreement by the Central Statistics Office that members of the Garda Síochána should be asked by, I would stress, their superiors to use such census forms or that gardaí should be so directed to avail of them for the completion of certain sections of the household register, and that this was not known to the public generally until now?
Apparently the Central Statistics Office up to recently did not know what the practice was in Garda stations.
Would the Minister not express his concern that——
I have expressed it in about four pages.
Would the Minister assure the House that such a practice will not occur again?
I have already given that assurance.
In relation to the question I had down to the Tánaiste, which was referred to the Minister, in regard to Cork, would the Minister agree that where gardaí in particular stations request enumerators to hand in the ordinary household form, Form A, the gardaí have no authority to extract forms relating to specific residents, as occurred in a Cork station? Would the Minister accept that this is a breach of the regulations? Is he aware that many enumerators experienced delay in getting back those A Forms to enable them to go ahead and complete their summary forms, thus giving them grounds for thinking that the forms were being used for purposes other than the census?
I have already said that the practice was not correct and will not happen again.
