Data commissioner demands report on documents

THE Data Protection Commissioner has demanded a report from AIB on the issues raised by Thursday’s discovery of confidential documents near the village of Glounthaune in east Cork.

AIB informed the commissioner’s office on Thursday evening about the excavated files, as moves were made to secure the site of the former landfill in Killacloyne.

Data Protection Commissioner spokesman Diarmuid Hallinan said that it was “a matter of concern” for people “from a privacy perspective” and that they were seeking a report from the bank.

AIB said in a statement that the paperwork excavated amounted to one and a half refuse sacks of material.

“Most of the contents of these sacks had either already been shredded or have deteriorated with age to the extent that they are illegible,” according to an AIB statement.

“The material from the sacks which remains legible is currently being examined by the AIB officials and it will, therefore, not be possible to comment further on the nature of that material until they have completed that task.”

Meanwhile, the Financial Regulator’s office has also been informed about the discovery and made a statement on the issue.

“The Financial Regulator expects the financial institutions to have adequate systems and controls in place to protect client confidentiality.”

Fine Gael communications spokesman and Cork South Central TD, Simon Coveney, called on the Government to “urgently reform” Ireland’s data protection legislation in light of the latest revelations from the Killacloyne landfill site.

“This is the second batch of sensitive personal documents that has been found at this single site, and by my count the 15th major data breach in Ireland since I took this brief last September,” Mr Coveney said.

“Breaches of sensitive personal data, such as this, can have extremely serious consequences for people involved, due not only to the compromise of personal details, but the potential for identity theft and other forms of fraud.”

Fine Gael are due to publish their own data protection proposals later in the summer, saying they had “repeatedly warned of these dangers”.

Labour Party TD Kathleen Lynch said AIB customers need “immediate clarity” as to the nature and extent of the confidential files discovered in the old landfill dump.

“This discovery raises several serious issues and questions,” she said.

“We need to know the full extent of this. How many records were landfilled and over what timeframe? How many people, still alive, are affected by this? What assurances can the AIB give that the problem has been fully contained?”

It was “absolutely unacceptable” that confidential information relating to people who may still be alive and well was dumped in a field.

“AIB in Cork should as a matter of urgency, conduct as full an audit as possible of disposed and destroyed files,” said Ms Lynch.