data protection access request

Pgoodman

So I need to send for my personal data from the guards for a new job and I'm just wondering what type of data I'll get. My friend and I were once in a stupid scuffle with another person two years ago during new years eve. Noone was arrested but the guards took everyones name, addresses and d.o.b but we never heard any word about the incident at all after. I'm now worried this will come up on my data and ruin my chances. Anyone know if it will?

carzony

Your employer can not request you to get personal information from the Gardai. Your employer can get you garda vetted however.

In relation to a data request you'll recieve searches, court appearances, convictions and any crimes reported to the gardai by you. Most of the stuff would be 'soft information' but should not be shared with anyone else but you.

gizmo555

Pgoodman wrote: »

So I need to send for my personal data from the guards for a new job and I'm just wondering what type of data I'll get. My friend and I were once in a stupid scuffle with another person two years ago during new years eve. Noone was arrested but the guards took everyones name, addresses and d.o.b but we never heard any word about the incident at all after. I'm now worried this will come up on my data and ruin my chances. Anyone know if it will?

If your employer is requiring you to make an access request to the guards, that would be an unlawful act on their part.

An 'Enforced Subject Access Request' is where someone is obliged by a potential employer or organisation to make an access request to a data controller under Section 4 of the Data Protection Acts. Section 4 gives individuals the right to obtain a copy of any information relating to them held by any entity or organisation and in an Enforced Subject Access Request the individual is then required by the potential employer or organisation to provide this information to them. On 18 July 2014, Statutory Instruments Nos. 337 and 338 came into law in Ireland, making it unlawful for an employer to require this. This provision also applies to any person engaging a recruitment agency or pre-employment screening service.

This procedure is wholly different to the legitimate vetting of individuals for certain roles. Vetting of individuals for employment purposes is mandatory under legislation such as the Child Care Act 1991, the Child Care Regulations 2006 and the Teaching Council Act 2001. Vetting also takes place for certain state employees under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 areas and to those working in the private security industry. In 2014, there were over 320,000 vetting applications processed by the Garda Central Vetting Unit.

In the same year, 11,219 access requests were made by individuals under section 4 of the Data Protection Acts to the Data Protection Processing Unit in the Garda Central Vetting Unit in Thurles. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner considers these access request figures to be questionably high and is concerned that organisations who would not legitimately qualify to conduct a vetting check are instead turning to Section 4 of the Data Protection Acts to engage in “vetting by the back-door”. Worryingly, this request could potentially reveal a lot more sensitive data than a legitimate vetting check. A Section 4 access request could result in everything held on Garda records about a person being disclosed (subject to certain exemptions), chiefly because the data disclosed is intended to be for the information of the person making the request only. In contrast, a vetting check has always been subject to certain restrictions on what would be disclosed.

https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/5-6-2015-Data-Protection-Commissioner-Investigates-Enforced-Subject-Access-Requests/1475.htm

usernamegoes

As others say it is a criminal offence for your employer or potential employer to require you to do this.

carzony wrote: »

Your employer can get you garda vetted however.

Depends on what the job is.