Dynamite release tonight to @JackHoJo. The Dept now says that the advice to the Minister @rodericogorman that the GDPR was “prohibited” from applying to the Archive didn’t come from the AG.

It came from the Dept. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/no-obstacle-to-publication-of-mother-and-baby-homes-report-says-taoiseach-1.4395720?mode=amp

“the department’s advice to the Minister was that “access to the archive produced by the Commission through GDPR is expressly prohibited”.

This seems to remove the apparent U-Turn from The AG.

There was only one AG advice on the applicability of the GDPR given.

This seems contrary to this statement by the Minister to the Dáil during the debate last Thursday.

https://www.kildarestreet.com/debate/?id=2020-10-22a.418

More details now added to this report. The Dept decided to give “interpret” the GDPR and Irish law, no specific advice was given by the AG.

Seems to strengthen the argument for an external, suitably expert, panel to apply the balancing test to Art 15 requests.

Because the Dept’s top legal advisors appear not to have known a national law can’t create a “blanket ban” on GDPR rights.

From a political point of view, I expect the question of When The Minister Knew This will be asked

But from the point of view of getting this project back on the rails, the questions are about how to ensure the access given through the Dept Archive is meaningful and unobstructed

If the necessary GDPR expertise isn’t in house (and tonight’s story conclusively shows that) then it’s time to prepare for an external body to make those decisions, with data protection knowledge.

That said, in the light of tonight’s story, this whole statement, made to the Dáil last Wed by the Minister slightly boggles the mind.

I think my favourite bit is at the end where he says he’s agreed with the AG to meet him and have him take him through that advice that he didn’t, as it turns out, give.

What would that conversation have been like?

Though this one may top it for sheer narrative drive.

Look at all that advice being cited that the AG didn’t, it turns out, give.

The Minister took a memorandum to Cabinet telling them the AG had said Irish law prohibited the GDPR and when he got there the AG produced advice saying he was wrong.

How does that run, exactly?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/is-there-a-way-out-of-the-legal-quagmire-over-mother-and-baby-homes-records-1.4394781