Sealing mother and child records at home is against the law,...

According to the Data Protection Commission (DPC), the government has violated European and Irish law regarding the accessibility of personal information by voting for 30 years to seal maternal and baby home records.

The DPC was consulted by the Children’s Department before drafting the new Maternity and Baby Homes Act on the data protection impact assessment it commissioned regarding the legislation.

When the laws were passed Thursday night, Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman said his advice from the Attorney General was that access to the records was expressly restricted by the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004.

However, the Irish examiner found this to be “totally inconsistent” with the observations the DPC had submitted to the division.

Aside from a database sent to the Tusla Children’s and Family Agency, the records will be sealed for the next three decades.

“The DPC has made a number of observations about the DPIA,” said Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle on the matter.

He said that the 2018 Data Protection Act, which was itself drafted to transpose the powerful EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into Irish law, “explicitly amended” the Commission of Inquiry Act of 2004 to “restrict the right of access to individuals Data processed by the commission can only be implemented “to the extent necessary and proportionately in order to ensure the effective operation of the commissions and the future cooperation of the witnesses”.

“It seems to the DPC that the separate provisions of the 2004 Act relating to the sealing of documents in connection with the amendment to the 2018 Act were not intended to create an effective blanket barrier to the exercise of rights” said Mr. Doyle.

Basically disagree

It is assumed that the DPC generally does not agree with the department’s approach with the new legislation.

“The minister admits that he went back and forth with the attorney general and that the 2004 commission law required the records to be sealed,” said a knowledgeable source.

“But this law came in 2004 – it predates the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and GDPR and the 2018 Data Protection Act, and where there is conflict between national and EU law, the EU takes precedence,” they said.

“He (Minister O’Gorman) has been given advice to follow, but he also clearly realizes something is wrong,” the source said.

“To be fair to the department, they try to do the right thing, but suffer from doing such a poor job on communication. You need to legislate to ensure that the Commission does not edit the information in the records. The question really is how the whole thing was left so late. ”

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission will disband in late October, sparking the need to pass laws within the Oireachtas regarding the records.

Earlier, Minister O’Gorman said he “deeply regrets” that he has not properly communicated with maternity and baby home survivors about the new laws that will seal their records for 30 years.

He admitted that the controversial bill passed by the three governing parties through the Dail on Thursday evening caused “fear”.

Mr O’Gorman said he will now consult with survival groups and academic experts after the bill sparked anger among opposition TDs and former maternity and baby home residents.

The minister’s decision not to adopt any changes by the opposition to the controversial bill was particularly despised by the opposition. Holly Cairns, the TD of the South South Social Democrats in Cork, described the action as “disgusting”.

The opposition TDs had hoped to let the survivors of the system decide about these changes whether their names and statements should be disclosed.