Social Democrats TD for Cork South-West, Holly Cairns, has welcomed confirmation from the Taoiseach in the D\u00e1il today that all survivors of institutional abuse will be able to access their own personal data.<\/p>\n
Holly said:<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week, the Government changed its policy to allow people access to their own information. The natural extension is that this would apply to the Ryan Report and McAleese archives, as well as the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not just a matter of acknowledging this right \u2013 there needs to be action to facilitate people in accessing data relevant to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have also requested the Minister to engage with experienced data protection law experts, preferably to include international expertise, to assist the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Government in giving people their information.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter recent events, trust in the Department’s legal knowledge in this field is understandably very low and it is crucial that the Minister takes a proactive approach. This process must be underpinned by person-centred legislation that recognises the Minister\u2019s duties to disclose information and protect identity rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is essential that the Department is prepared to provide individuals access to its copy of the Commission’s archive and instruct all other holders of ‘historical’ abuse information accordingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the Minister did acknowledge the need for greater consultation with survivors and to work with the Data Protection Commission, he fell short of committing to bringing in independent experts who could work directly with him in his capacity as data controller.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still unanswered questions about the Government\u2019s handling of this matter \u2013 which caused much hurt and upset to survivors \u2013 and I have called on Minister O\u2019Gorman to secure time in next week\u2019s D\u00e1il schedule to address them.\u201d<\/p>\n
November 4, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats TD for Cork South-West, Holly Cairns, has welcomed confirmation from the Taoiseach in the D\u00e1il today that all survivors of institutional abuse will be able to access their own personal data. Holly said: \u201cLast week, the Government changed its policy to allow people access to their own information. The natural extension is that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[400,7,399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holly-cairns","category-press-release","category-tds"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n