I can inform the Deputy that the data provided to him in question 304 of 20th of April was not data on convictions or the number of persons charged under the Acts in question. The data provided was of incidents recorded on the Garda PULSE system. As the Deputy can appreciate not every incident recorded on the PULSE system necessarily leads to an individual appearing before a Court, and therefore is not synonymous with the publicly available records held by the Courts Service.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that An Garda Síochána adhere to the highest standards for protection of personal data processed for law enforcement purposes, in line with the requirements of Part 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
I am also advised that An Garda Síochána follow an approach informed by advice from the An Garda Síochána Data Protection Unit to withhold low volume counts, and therefore generally no figures less than 10 are provided. Figures between 5 and 10 are provided in some specific circumstances where it is necessary to do so, and there are lower risks to the individual data subjects concerned.
