Data Protection Commissioner

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (Irish: An Coimisinéir Cosanta Sonraí) is the independent national authority responsible for upholding the EU fundamental right of individuals to data privacy through the enforcement and monitoring of compliance with data protection legislation in Ireland. With 9 out of 10 world-leading technology and internet companies, as well as many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and financial services firms now located in Ireland, the range of issues the Office deals with, as well as the responsibility it now has to Irish and EU users has expanded greatly since its establishment in 1989.

Helen Dixon was appointed Data Protection Commissioner in September 2014. Prior to her appointment she held the role of Irish Registrar of Companies with the Companies Registration Office from December 2009. She previously held senior management positions in the Department of Jobs and Enterprise. She spent the first 11 years of her career working for US IT multinationals with EMEA bases in Dublin.

The independent role and powers of the Data Protection Commissioner are as set out in legislation in the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. These Acts transpose the Council of Europe 1981 Data Protection Convention (Convention 108) and the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC).

Complaints received from individuals who feel that their personal information is not being treated in accordance with data protection law are investigated under section 10 of the Data Protection Acts. It is the statutory obligation of the Office to seek to amicably resolve complaints in the first instance. Where amicable resolution cannot be achieved, the Commissioner may make a Decision on whether, in her opinion, there has been a breach of the law. If the complainant or the data controller disagrees with the Commissioner’s finding, they have the right to appeal the Decision to the Circuit Court. The DPC’s main priority, if a complaint is upheld, is that the data controller complies with the law and puts right the matter concerned. If an organisation does not voluntarily cooperate with an investigation, the DPC has powers of compulsion to require such cooperation.

In 2015, the Office received 932 complaints that were opened for investigation. Investigations into 1,015 complaints were concluded.