Must Tusla, An Garda Síochána, etc inform you if an allegation has been made against you?

A straightforward legal question: if somebody makes an allegation against you, must Tusla, An Garda Síochána and other bodies inform you of the allegation?

I was at a Men's Aid meeting recently for people going through marital breakdown and a man strongly advised everybody to make a request under Data Protection legislation to those organisations as there could be allegations on their files that you had never been told about (as was his experience).

Is this true? If so, I find it extraordinary that an allegation against your character could be sitting there for years without your knowing it.

Lenar3556

No is the answer.

The man is likely referring to a ‘Data Subject Access Request’ - It may or may not cause some details of complaints received to be disclosed, depending on the individual circumstances. In any case, it is likely to be heavily redacted.

Both organisations you refer are subject to certain exemptions under the data protection acts deemed to be necessary in the public interest.