Government to hire GDPR contractors for mother and baby homes fallout

The tender states that consideration is required as to whether the release of personal data could prejudice the effective operation of future commissions of inquiry and the cooperation of witnesses.

The Government is to hire external data-protection specialists to provide advice on requests for access to personal records from mother and baby home survivors.

The Department of Children has published a tender seeking external contractors to provide expert advice on GDPR and subject access requests (SARs) from survivors.

The successful contractor will be hired for a period of one year, with two possible six-month extensions, and is expected to be paid €120,000 plus Vat under the contract.

The tender states that consideration is required as to whether the release of personal data could prejudice the effective operation of future commissions of inquiry and the cooperation of witnesses.

It also notes that engagement is ongoing between the department, the office of the Attorney General, and the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure that personal data can be made available to individuals in compliance with the legal framework.

The contractor will be required to provide specialist expertise on an “ongoing, as required” basis as the department manages “potentially large volumes" of requests from survivors, following the transfer of records from the commission.

They will work closely with the department’s Information Management Unit on the application of GDPR rules, and will act in an advisory capacity in relation to “access issues and balancing rights”.

Confirmation of the move came as the Government continued to receive sharp criticism for its handling of the mother and baby homes report. 

The Department of Children has been accused of laziness for failing to deliver hard copies of the report to survivors. 

The Oireachtas committee on children and youth affairs had a private 90-minute meeting with the Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman yesterday.

In response to a query from Fianna Fáil senator Erin McGreehan, the committee heard the report wasn't delivered to survivors because the department didn't have their names and addresses.

"It makes no sense as there was a collaborative forum that would've had that information, or they could've reached out to advocacy groups," a committee source said.

"It's so lazy."