Irish Roots
…and another
thing…
2013 Number 3
Steven Smyrl brings us more
commentary, chat and
banter from the world of Irish genealogy
I
wonder how many readers have had the provisions of the
Data Protection Act (DPA) and/or the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) used to deny them access to information? It’s
usually overzealous officials who, having decided to deny
access, make vague reference to DPA/FOIA as the reason for
the decision.
and in Ireland the list of bodies it applies to is prescribed in
an appended schedule. This schedule is to be extended in the
Freedom of Information Bill 2013 currently being debated in
the Irish parliament.
The same Irish Times article noted a demand that access to
heritage records should follow a dispensational “principle of
public ownership and right of access” policy. However, it’s
hard to see how such a policy might be implemented when
DPA and FOIA are designed to create a clear and unambiguous
structure through which data can either be disclosed or access
denied. There can be no ‘wriggle room’ or even an allowance
for officials to look upon certain sorts of applications ‘kindly’.
Either the rules allow disclosure or they don’t. If it wasn’t an
open-and-shut case, with no grey areas, then how could the
rules ever be implemented fairly?
In the letters page of the July edition of the UK family history
magazine Who Do You Think You Are? a reader asked why
genealogists cannot have Internet access to the post-2005
England & Wales GRO BMD indexes. The editor replied that
she had “spoken to someone at the GRO and it is to do with
data protection.” Well, I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t have accepted
that answer. The GRO is obliged to quote the relevant DPA
section to support its decision.
Both Acts aim to find the balance between the individual’s
right to privacy and a citizen’s right to know. Unfortunately,
my own experience of both is that they are more generally used
by government departments, bodies and agencies to thwart
access to data. There is no better example than the UK National
Health Service’s refusal a few years ago - quoting DPA - to
disclose information from the 1939 England & Wales National
Register. The Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations
(CIGO) challenged this decision and it was overturned by the
UK Information Commissioner, leading directly to Scotland
and Northern Ireland following suit.
And what of historical church records, for example - one of the
main sources for Irish genealogy? Other than pre-1870 Church
of Ireland registers, they are controlled by private bodies rather
than the state and anyway the proposed EU Regulation would
simply not apply and neither would the new Freedom of
Information Bill 2013 when it becomes law.
One could argue that the ‘principle of public ownership and
right of access’ is already enshrined at the heart of Freedom
of Information legislation. So much so, that if one doesn’t
agree with a decision made then it can be appealed to the
Information Commissioner who will undoubtedly interpret
the rules correctly and apply his decision accordingly without
fear or favour.
Recently the Genealogical Society of Finland circulated a press
release about the European Union’s proposed new General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which would override
each EU member state’s own data protection laws. The Finnish
Society rightly asked what implications this might have for
family historians. They were concerned that it might restrict
access to records and data. This might well be so and I agreed
that representations should immediately be made to the Irish
Justice Minister, Alan Shatter.
Given this, any further effort by genealogists would be
better directed towards convincing the authorities to use
parliamentary time implementing the promise made in the
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