Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 September 2010
124 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance the extent to which that Data Protection Act is used as a means to prevent public representatives from accessing information on behalf of constituents with particular reference to the Revenue Commissioners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34123/10]
View answerI am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that all processing of personal information by Revenue is carried out in accordance with Data Protection legislation. A general principle of Irish Data Protection law is that a data controller needs the consent of the data subject in order to disclose personal information to a third party. Furthermore taxpayer information can be extremely sensitive, and quite apart from Data Protection law, Revenue has a duty to protect taxpayer confidentiality. However, Revenue fully recognise the role of public representatives in relation to their constituents.
When Deputies make representations on behalf of individual taxpayers, these representations normally contain personal information such as the individual's PPS Number or other personal tax identifiers. In these circumstances there is generally enough evidence to reasonably support Revenue in a presumption of consent on the part of the taxpayer underpinning the interaction.
I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that this approach is working well; for example, in the year 2009 more than three hundred and sixty representations were directed to the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners by public representatives in relation to individual taxpayer issues. Indeed, the Deputy will be aware that in the last eighteen months he himself has received responses to and been supplied with information from Revenue in relation to twelve cases where he wrote directly to the Chairman of Revenue or through official local channels, and thirty-nine cases where he submitted queries through the Parliamentary Question process.
Revenue staff are expected to take great care to protect taxpayers' information and accordingly, where enquiries of a general nature are made by telephone to Revenue it is not unreasonable that staff should request evidence of consent in advance of passing on personal information. While it may be that the Deputy has a particular request in mind, he will appreciate that telephone enquiries may necessitate an extra level of vigilance in relation to the level of proof of consent required.
The Revenue Commissioners advise me that they have a dedicated enquiry line for members of the House which can be reached on (01) 679 58 52.
