EU Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 June 2013

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Questions (279)

Andrew Doyle

Question:

279. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to the EU Telecoms Council held in Luxembourg on 6 June 2013, if he will provide further details regarding the early agreement on the re-use of public sector information which will improve the availability of publicly held information by removing barriers to its access which will facilitate the development of new services and innovative products; the measure this would entail here; the public sector information he will intend this to involve in an Irish context; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29051/13]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

A wide variety of information is held by Public bodies in all Member States ranging from demographic and economic data to historical documents. The Irish Presidency reached agreement with the Parliament on this proposal on 25 March. The agreement on Public Sector Information (PSI) will facilitate access to, and re-use by the private sector of data held by public sector bodies, including, for the first time, museums, libraries (except university libraries) and archives, at low or no cost.

This will allow for the development of innovative products and services, supporting the Presidency’s growth and jobs agenda and strengthening the knowledge based economy. There is specific provision that all re-use of information has to be fully compliant with the principles of the Data Protection Directive. The precise modalities of how this will work in an Irish context are not within my policy remit. The Deputy is no doubt aware that the recently published Action Plan for Jobs contains specific proposals in this regard and relevant Departments, agencies and bodies will now need to consider how best to implement the new measures.