merrion street

The Department of Health has released the following statement in response to the RTE investigation regarding the holding of information in relation to legal actions against the state.

The Department of Health would like to reassure all parents, families and interested parties that the Department has never unlawfully held sensitive medical and educational information of children involved in dormant court cases.

The Department’s mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Ireland and to protect the most vulnerable in society. The Department is very conscious of the impact that these headlines will have on affected families and will engage with stakeholders on these matters in the coming days to address any concerns.

It is normal practice for defendants to litigation to gather and maintain appropriate information in order to obtain legal advice and/or defend the proceedings. This is necessary to protect the public interest and is a normal practice for the management of litigation.

The subject matter of this specific RTE investigation was brought to the Department's attention last year. The Department moved quickly to investigate these matters and commissioned an independent, expert review by an external Senior Counsel. This review was completed in November 2020.

No breach of the Data Protection Acts was identified by the review. The review found that information contained on relevant files managed by the Department is consistent with, and typical of, the sort of information which arises in such litigation. The examination also found no basis to suggest wrongdoing arising from the information contained.