Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 February 2008
563 Deputy Leo Varadkar asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if disks, laptops or memory storage devices containing personal information about members of the public have been lost or stolen from his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5007/08]
View answer566 Deputy Leo Varadkar asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has been informed by any of the agencies attached to his Department, if those agencies have lost or had stolen from them any disks, laptops or memory storage devices containing personal information regarding members of the public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5079/08]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 563 and 566 together.
In relation to the information requested concerning my Department, I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question No. 1188 of 30 January 2008. The position in relation to this issue remains the same in that no data has been compromised because of data devices lost or stolen from my Department. In relation to agencies attached to my Department, I can inform the Deputy that the Refugee Appeals Tribunal recorded two laptops stolen in 2006, following burglaries. The laptops concerned had been issued to individual Members of the Tribunal for the purposes of their official functions including the drafting of decisions in respect of appellants. The devices had password protection. Both thefts were reported to An Garda Síochána, and the items have not been recovered to date. My Department has not received any other reports from any attached agencies of lost or stolen disks, laptops or memory storage devices containing personal information regarding members of the public.
