Records on witness evidence, data protection concerns, and the evidence of the confidential committee of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission

The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) wrote repeatedly to the Mother and Baby Home Commission raising concerns about the handling of sensitive survivor testimony and delays in responding to queries.

The DPC also said they were “disappointed” that the Commission had not quickly responded to one of their letters and warned that failure to respond to their concerns could be a breach of their duty of cooperation under data regulations.

In response, the Mother and Baby Home Commission said they had been given insufficient time to deal with the queries and said issues were being “conflated” in the letters.

The DPC said answers to their concerns should have been “immediately to hand” and that the tight deadlines were necessary given the commission was going to be wound down at the end of February.

A letter said: “This of itself unfortunately raises issues about the Commission’s compliance with its GDPR obligations.”