Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 March 2021
113. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason rural social scheme supervisors are being requested to gather personal information from scheme participants as part of the annual review of means of participants in the scheme; if discussions have taken place with the Data Protection Commissioner on whether such an arrangement is satisfactory under the GDPR; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16197/21]
View answerThe Rural Social Scheme (RSS) is an income support initiative which provides part-time employment opportunities in community and voluntary organisations for farmers or fishers who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are underemployed in their primary occupation. It is a supplementary income support scheme designed specifically for those participants whose income falls below a certain level.
To remain eligible to participate on the scheme an RSS participant must be actively farming or fishing and have an underlying entitlement to a qualifying social welfare payment, as determined by a means test.
In order to confirm a RSS participant's continuing eligibility for the scheme and issue an employment contract for the coming year, the RSS Supervisor must complete an online renewal form provided by the contracted payroll provider Pobal, on behalf of the RSS participant and the implementing body (IB) with which they are employed. This process identifies any changes in an RSS participant's circumstances which may affect their rate of payment and their continuing eligibility to remain on the RSS.
In line with current public health advice to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, RSS participants have been asked to make a self-declaration of their continued eligibility to participate on RSS for the year 2021-2022. This requires the completion of a form and the return of same to their RSS supervisor. This form assists the RSS supervisor in identifying specific changes to an RSS participant's circumstances, which may affect their continued eligibility to participate on RSS. It should be noted that there is no change to the information that was previously required as part of the RSS participant renewal process in previous years.
In considering the changes to the RSS participant renewal process for the 2021-2022 year, a Pre-Data Protection Impact Assessment evaluation template was completed by the Department and it was confirmed that a full Data Protection Impact Assessment would not be required. There was no requirement to notify the Data Protection Commissioner as there was no additional RSS participant information being gathered and there were no changes to existing data processing or data sharing practices.
It should be noted that the renewal process for RSS participants for the 2021-2022 year is in place in light of the current COVID operational environment and related public health advice.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
