FOI and Data Protection
Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation grants persons similar rights regarding access, subject to certain conditions. NMBI is subject to both sets of legislation.
The FOI Acts apply to information held by Government Departments, agencies and other designated bodies in receipt of State funding in Ireland. The FOI Acts allow for persons to seek access to their own data held by such bodies. However, the requirements of the Data Protection Acts and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) apply to all legal entities.
The two sets of legislation provide an opportunity for NMBI to improve customer service and service delivery by responding to requests efficiently and transparently and to maximise the quality of the records and personal data NMBI holds.
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Data Protection |
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The Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI) provides that every person has the following:
- A legal right to access official records held by public bodies listed in the Act.
- A legal right to have personal information held on them corrected or updated where such information is incomplete, incorrect or misleading.
- A legal right to be given reasons for decisions taken by public bodies that affect them.
The Act gives the public the right to obtain access to official information to the greatest extent possible consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy of individuals.
NMBI Freedom of Information page |
NMBI needs to gather and use certain information about individuals. In particular, it has a statutory duty to collect and process personal data as the regulator of the professions of nursing and midwifery, as set out in the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011.
The data subjects NMBI needs to gather and use information about includes registrants, student nurses and midwives, suppliers, business contacts, employees and other people the organisation has a relationship with or may need to contact.
National data protection law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) describes how organisations – including NMBI – must collect, process and store personal information.
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