My Department has not received any Data or Subject Access Requests in relation to the Report of the Inter Departmental Committee into the Magdalen Laundries which was published in 2013. There is a dedicated Data Protection Officer (DPO) in place to oversee my Department’s compliance with the GDPR. The DPO is assisted in this role by a number of Data Protection Liaison Officers in various divisions throughout the Department.
In its final report the Committee set out that the archive of the Committee’s work, which is deposited and stored centrally in the Department of the Taoiseach, contains only copies of official records identified from across all Departments, State agencies and bodies. The originals of all such records identified have stayed in their original files and locations in order to avoid disturbance to or destruction of original or archived files. The Committee set out that the archive also contains certain materials generated by, or for, the Committee in the course of their work such as correspondence, minutes, some statements and submissions. Those records of the Religious Congregations consulted by the Committee were returned to those Congregations, with the exception of certain anonymised data drawn from these records.
The Government will set out further information on how it will ensure that the rights of all citizens to access personal information about themselves, under data protection legislation and the GDPR are fully respected and implemented, in the context of the upcoming publication of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
