‘My Department Engaged Extensively With The AG’s Office’

Attorney General Paul Gallagher; Minister for Children, Disabilty, Equality and Integration Roderic O’Gorman in the Dail at the Convention Centre, October 22

But did they?

This morning.

Further to controversy over the sealing of the Mother and Baby Home Commission records…

“My department has engaged extensively with the Attorney General’s office on this issue and the advice we have received, to which the department is bound, is that the GDPR right of access to personal data set out in article 15 of the GDPR is expressly prohibited by section 39 of the Commissions of Investigation Act.”

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman, October 22

Via the Irish Times:

However, a spokesman for Mr O’Gorman confirmed that the first time there was direct contact between the Minister’s office and the Attorney General’s office was in the week of October 19th, after a query about access to records in the archive had been raised by the Data Protection Commissioner.

…The first time the current Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, gave direct official advice on the matter was at the Cabinet meeting on October 28th, when he said the 2004 Act did not preclude the consideration of data access requests by his department.

Roderic O’Gorman’s first direct contact with AG was in October (Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

But would the Dáil have treated Departmental officials’ advice in the same way as when they were led to believe it was AG “binding” advice?

Now the actual AG’s advice is an improvement on the assertion of prohibition but -we’re told- continues to apply same restrictive irish law

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) November 4, 2020

Anyone?

Related posts:

“I Didn’t Want To Ask Survivors To Wait More” Mother And Baby Home Answers ‘A Small Group Of People With A Very Clear Agenda’ Sealed