The Social Democrats have written to the Office of the Data Protection Commission requesting that they examine the destruction of survivors\u2019 recorded testimonies by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Whitmore TD, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson for Children, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe simple fact is that 550 testimonies have been destroyed. While the commission claims that permission was sought from and granted by survivors, this has repeatedly been contested by those who bravely came forward with their harrowing stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Social Democrats have grave concerns regarding the destruction of these testimonies by the Mother and Baby Commission and the legality of this action under Article 6 and 9 of GDPR legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the destruction of these files does not have a legal basis under any national or EU statute. We have now written to the Office of the Data Protection Commission asking them to examine these aspects.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday, I confronted the Minister on this issue during a meeting of the Oireachtas Children\u2019s Committee. He responded that he was seeking legal advice from the Attorney General and was not in a position to comment on his or the Government\u2019s view on the destruction of the recordings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is simply not good enough. The Minister\u2019s reply echoes the failings to date by the Government to adequately respond to survivors\u2019 needs and honour the promises made about allowing them access to their data.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 17, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Social Democrats have written to the Office of the Data Protection Commission requesting that they examine the destruction of survivors\u2019 recorded testimonies by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. Jennifer Whitmore TD, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson for Children, said: \u201cThe simple fact is that 550 testimonies have been destroyed. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n