Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 February 2014
188. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he has established an information officer; if this person is in charge of developing and implementing data protection in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8748/14]
View answerI wish to inform the Deputy that while my Department has assigned overarching responsibility for freedom of information requests as well as requests for personal data under the data protection regime to a particular officer, it has not formally designated an official with the title of "information officer". However, my Department has recently agreed a blueprint for record and data management and related issues and has assigned implementation to a senior responsible officer. It is the intention of the Department, over the next two years, to review and refresh all areas relating to the management of data within the Department. In the short to medium term this will include consideration of extending the role of the current officer to encompass a broader remit along the lines suggested in the Deputy's question. It has to be acknowledged that while a great deal can be done in this area with the use of modern information technology, additional human resources may also be needed. The Deputy will appreciate that there are competing demands for resources and that additional human resources are not available at present. However, the Department is examining how best this area can be developed and progressed within the existing resource constraints.
