Thomas Gould
Ceist:316. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there is a restriction on recording full council meetings in either a statutory instrument or legislation. [49657/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 11 October 2022
Ceisteanna (316)
Freagraí scríofa
The rules governing the meetings and proceedings of local authorities are set out under Part 6 and Schedule 10 of the Local Government Act 2001, as amended.
Schedule 10, section 14 requires that minutes of the proceedings of a local authority meeting must be drawn up by the meetings administrator. These minutes are then submitted for confirmation as an accurate record at the next meetings. The confirmed minutes are then the official record of the meeting.
Schedule 10, section 16 of the 2001 Act allows a local authority to make standing orders for the regulation of its meetings and proceedings. Standing orders may require that no cameras or any kind or recording equipment may be used at meetings of the Council without the prior approval of the Council.
In addition the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, which are under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, confers rights on individuals in relation to the privacy of their personal data as well as responsibilities on organisations holding and processing such data.
Any organisation using recording equipment should remember that simply recording and/or storing video and/or audio data could be considered as data processing, even if no further use is made of that data. Furthermore, that data may be considered ‘personal data’ where an individual can be identified from it and their prior consent may be required.
The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is the national independent authority responsible for upholding the rights of individuals under the 2018 Act, oversight of GDPR and other data protection requirements. The DPC has issued a range of guidance to assist organisations in complying with GDPR and data protection requirements, which may be found at the link below: dataprotection.ie/en/dpc-guidance.