asked the Minister for Justice the number of citizens about whom information is retained on computer in his Department; and if information so recorded is used by his Department for any other purpose.
Written Answers. - Computer Information.
296.
, Limerick East): The only information retained on computer in my Department is information which would otherwise have to be recorded by manual methods and which is required to enable the Department to discharge its administrative functions in the normal way. Examples of this are
—the processing by computer of summonses of the Dublin Metropolitan District Court and subsequent processing of court lists and the collection of fines,
—the processing by computer of the payment of salaries etc. to the staff of the Department, prisons' staffs and members of the Garda Síochána,
—the recording on word processors of names and addresses where this is required to facilitate correspondence with the people concerned,
—the computerisation of Land Registry records which is at present in progress.
The number of persons covered by such transactions is at present of the order of 400,000.
The information may be used for any official purpose for which the same information recorded manually might be used.