The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has responsibility for Data Sharing and Governance Bill, which was published on 8 June 2018 and is currently at Report Stage in the Seanad.
The purpose of the Bill is to promote and encourage data sharing between public bodies by providing a statutory framework for data sharing for legitimate and clearly specified purposes that are compliant with data protection law; and to improve the protection of individual privacy rights by setting new governance standards for data sharing by public bodies.
National and EU data protection law requires that data sharing needs an explicit legal basis. Data sharing is currently carried out by the public service under existing sectorial legislation. For example, the Student Support Act 2011 provides that public bodies may share data with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) for the purposes of streamlining the processing student grant applications.
The Data Sharing and Governance Bill, provides a flexible legislative gateway for data sharing by public bodies that will simplify the complex legal landscape and supports efforts to modernise and improve public services. The Bill also provides a framework for public bodies to share data in a manner that is compatible with data protection law, including the new General Data Protection Regulation that came into effect on 25 May.