From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
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The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, is pleased to announce that the first set of Data Sharing Agreements which have been developed under the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 have been published for public consultation.
A new Data Sharing Framework sets out a common set of key processes for Public Bodies to follow when they wish to use the DSGA 2019 as a basis to share personal information within the public service. Public Consultation is one of the key stages in this new process and delivers transparency to both GDPR compliance and safe handling of personal information. The Data Governance Board will add a further layer of transparent governance to the process by reviewing the data sharing agreements and publishing their recommendations. The new processes are published on the OGCIO website.
Welcoming the public consultation, Minister McGrath said:
"The publication of these Data Sharing Agreements for public consultation is a positive development in the government's drive to demonstrate purpose and provide transparency around the sharing of data across the public sector, which will benefit all citizens."
Minister of State Smyth said:
“I encourage people to engage with the public consultations. These Data Sharing Agreements will provide for greater consistency in how data is managed by public bodies and shared between public bodies. This will help to make our public services more efficient."
Under the Framework, all Data Sharing Agreements made between public bodies for the purpose of sharing personal data are made available for public consultation on the government’s public consultation hub for a period of 28 days. Please visit Public consultation for Data Sharing Agreements under the DSGA Framework for sharing data for a list of all agreements that have been published for consultation. Alternatively, you can Search consultations using ‘DSGA Data Sharing Agreement’ as the topic. Any member of the public or interested group can subscribe for updates to consultations using the ‘Subscribe to updates’ option on the Home Page.
The Department of Justice has reviewed and updated two existing data sharing arrangements to bring them under the scope of the new framework. The two new draft Agreements are currently under Public Consultation. The first is a Data Sharing Agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs for the sharing of Citizenship data. This facilitates the processing of passport applications for persons in receipt of a naturalisation certificate.
The second is a Data Sharing Agreement with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners for the sharing of Immigration Investor data. This enables the Office of the Revenue Commissioners to share personal data in relation to individuals that have been approved under the Immigrant Investor Programme; which is necessary to ensure that Ireland meets its commitments under the OECD Common Reporting Standards.
Minister of Justice Helen McEntee welcomed the fact that the two data sharing agreements will benefit from the public consultation process, which will further strengthen the data protection processes connected with acquiring Citizenship and the IIP.
Full details on the Data Governance Board and on the DSGA Framework for sharing personal data under the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 are available here.
Full details of the two data sharing agreements can be found at: