Sinn Fein must tell voters about internal database, says data protection body
The Data Protection Commission said that the party should now ‘proactively’ tell voters that the database exists.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sinn Fein must tell voters about an internal party database on their canvassing and electioneering material, the Data Protection Commission has said.
A report published on Monday by the Data Protection Commissioner says that the Abu database is a “specially designed, bespoke relational database that was designed to identify supporters in order to get out the vote on election day”.
“The system contains data from the register of electors and the marked electoral register and is supplemented by canvass information.”
Under data protection rules, it said that the party should now “proactively” tell voters that the database exists and that this practice should continue as long as the database continues to exist.
The review by the Data Protection Commissioner came after media reports earlier this year on the alleged use of an internal database by the party for the storage of the personal information of voters.
The report, after assessing and reviewing the practice by Sinn Fein in the Republic notes “that the sample canvassing literature made no reference to the Abu database or to the fact that canvassing information with regard to prospective voters to whom the leaflet is handed out may be processed on the Abu database”.
The Data Protection Commissioner carried out audits of how all Irish political parties process voters’ data.
In the case of Sinn Fein, the commissioner report notes that the total number of eligible voters marked as to their political opinions is around 5.85% of the overall number of voters on the database.
It also found that: “Abu does not contain records of individuals in Northern Ireland or elsewhere and it is not used by officers or offices of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.”
The same report reveals that Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party were instructed to update their privacy policies regarding the use of electoral registers.