Watchdog criticises Tusla over records

THE data watchdog has warned the Child and Family Agency Tusla about its poor record-keeping in the wake of a false sex abuse allegation being circulated about Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

The Data Protection Commission launched a special investigation into Tusla’s personal data controls after it emerged in February 2017 that an unfounded rape allegation had been put in a file relating to Sergeant McCabe and circulated to gardaí three years earlier. Tusla has apologised and the scandal is being examined at the Disclosures Tribunal. The Data Protection Commission did not specifically reference the McCabe affair in its annual report.

It said: ‘The processing of personal and sensitive personal data, in the context of file management and record keeping overall, was not sufficiently planned for in the form of a robust data governance strategy when Tusla was established in 2014.’ It added: ‘Evidence was identified in the investigation of multiple and overlapping volumes of individual case files where no complete “master file” could be identified, and with no audit trail in relation to the handling of the file.’

Tusla was issued with 59 findings by the Data Protection Commission in January and given two months to set out a plan of action.

In its annual report, the Data Protection Commission noted that it took in a record number of complaints in 2017 – 2,642, compared to 1,479 in 2016.