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The government has outlined a plan for maternal and child home survivors to have access to their personal records in a manner consistent with GDPR rules tonight.
It comes amid widespread backlash over a bill passed in the Dáil that activists say would seal survivors’ records for the next 30 years.
In a statement issued by its press office tonight, the government said it had “a detailed reflection on all the issues of public interest that were raised” at a meeting today.
“The Government recognizes and regrets the genuine pain felt by many people in Irish society,” the statement said.
“He is determined to take the necessary actions to ensure that these concerns are addressed in a timely, appropriate manner and that it focuses on the needs of victims and survivors.”
The Government outlined a series of steps to be taken after their meeting, including a commitment to work with the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure that citizens’ rights to access personal information about themselves under EU law data protection and the RGPD are “fully respected and implemented”. .
Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the Attorney General (AG) has clarified that access to individual records is possible, but that all cases will be assessed on their individual merits, according to the Irish examiner.
The government also said it would work to establish a national archive of records related to institutional trauma during the 20th century in cooperation with professional archivists and historians, as well as victims, survivors and their advocates.
Records
The government said it had “reaffirmed” the reasons for introducing recent controversial legislation “to preserve and protect valuable documents that would have otherwise been destroyed or rendered useless.”
He said it was a response to the “clearly expressed” views of the Commission of Inquiry, which had compiled a database of all mothers and children residing in the main home for mothers and babies.
He said that, under current legislation, this database, which “would be of great help to those who provide information and location services”, would be “effectively destroyed”.
“Since the information collected in the database is all confidential personal information, the Commission would be obliged under existing legislation to draft the names and other identifying information about the residents of these houses before sending it to the Minister; the Commission stated that this would have the effect of rendering the database unusable, “the government statement said.
The Commission was of the opinion that the database should be preserved and made available to any agency in charge of information and tracing services to an extent that would require legislation, according to the Government.
“Legislation had to be passed before the October 30 deadline to protect and preserve these vital records from a dark chapter in our history,” he said.
Ireland
Sealing the mother’s and baby’s home records violates the law, d …
It comes as the bill in question sparked a furor among opposition TDs and former Mother and Baby Home residents.
The Data Protection Commission previously said that the government had violated European and Irish laws regarding the accessibility of personal data by voting to seal maternal and child home records for thirty years.
The decision not to accept the opposition’s amendments to the controversial bill drew particular contempt from the opposition, and Holly Cairns, TD of the Southwest Cork Social Democrats described the action as “disgusting.”
The opposition DTs hoped to allow the survivors of the system to decide through those amendments whether their names and testimonies should be revealed.
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