Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
408. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection 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. [3089/24]
View answerMy Department shares personal data with a number of Government Departments, bodies, agencies, and local authorities, for the purposes which are set out in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and in other Acts. The personal data shared may include identity data, such as Personal Public Service Number (PPSN), name, address, date of birth, as well data relating to life events such as date of birth and date of death. In addition, data on social welfare payments and data relating to a person's social insurance contributions are shared with the Revenue Commissioners.The data shared may be aggregated or individual depending on the legislative provisions and purpose which relate to the data sharing activity, which provisions set out the purpose for which the data can be shared.
For example, data may be shared on an individual basis with a public body by way of an Application Programme Interface (API) for the purpose of sharing data in relation to a person's social welfare payment, or for the purpose of authenticating their identity when they use MyGovID to access an online service provided by that public body.
An example of data being shared on an aggregated basis would be the nightly file shared with the HSE for the purpose of updating the National Register of Individual Health Identifiers under the Health Identifiers Act 2014.
My Department has an effective data governance framework in place to ensure that it meets its obligations as a data controller under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 in respect of its data sharing activities. This includes putting in place specific Data Sharing Agreements in respect of the sharing of data with other Departments and agencies.
