Today is Europe Data Protection Day.
Minister for Data Protection Dara Murphy says State departments must respect the rule of law when considering how they use people’s personal data.
Following issues with some government departments, concerns have been raised about how people's personal data is being protected.
Irish Water caused quite the controversy when they requested PPS numbers in order for people to register for the service while the Department of Education recently announced they would be launching a Primary Online Database which would hold details of all students until they turned 30.
Minister Murphy and Dr Eoin O’Dell from the School of law at Trinity College Dublin spoke to Jonathan Healy on Lunchtime today to discuss the issue with the Minister declaring that state departments need to have an increased regard for citizens data.
However, Dr O'Dell did defend Minister Murphy and stated that the situation has improved since he took office.
Dara Murphy also stated that the departments who are holding data should be only holding data relevant to that department.
You can listen to the full interview here:
