Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
315. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education if she will clarify whether the transfer of data and/or records from her Department that is transferred to other departments, State bodies and local authorities is in aggregated form or on an individual basis; and the reason the data and/or records are provided. [3078/24]
View answerAs stated in a recent reply, my Department shares data with other organisations for varied purposes such as compliance with employee tax obligations, organisation of the State exams, to support children with special educational needs or those at risk of educational disadvantage, in connection with legal proceedings, reporting of child protection concerns, provision of school transport, audit purposes, referral for financial support under the Affordable Childcare Scheme to support parents to remain in education, and to facilitate student testing for international education studies such as PISA. The transfer of data may be in aggregated form or on an individual basis depending on the specific purpose in question. For example, the data of Department employees is shared on an individual basis with the National Shared Services Office, which operates the payroll for Department staff, in order to facilitate payment of salary.
As stated previously, where my Department shares personal data with another organisation, it does so on the basis of the lawful grounds set out in the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 and with appropriate governance arrangements in place. The sharing is notified to data subjects through the Department’s overall Data Protection Notice and Privacy Notices.
