Data Protection Commission welcomes significant increased funding of €3.5 million in 2019 Budget

• Total 2019 funding increased by €3.5 million to €15.2 million
• Additional funding critical to continuing to build the DPC's capacity as an internationally respected, professional and effective supervisory authority
• 2019 funding will allow for further significant recruitment of approximately 40 staff bringing total staff to approximately 180
• Additional staff will build the DPC's investigative and legal capacity and to further strengthen the DPC's technology team to ensure that the office keeps at the cutting edge of the regulation of the use of personal data in emerging technologies.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has today welcomed the additional funding of €3.5 million for the office, announced by the Government in Budget 2019. The increase in funding for 2019 brings the total funding allocation for the DPC to €15.2 million, representing a further 30% increase on the 2018 allocation.

The Commissioner for Data Protection, Helen Dixon, in commenting on the additional funding stated that, “the Government's recognition of the need to fund an independent and well-resourced data protection authority is very much to be welcomed. The Government increased the funding of the DPC in 2014 and committed to keeping it under ongoing review. This has facilitated the DPC since then in building a regulatory authority that is fit-for-purpose in terms of our national and global responsibilities under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR demands higher standards of protection for people's personal information when it is collected and processed by all types of organisations and the role of the DPC is to monitor the application of and enforce the GDPR."

As staffing numbers of the DPC have increased to 120 in the last 3 years, the outputs of the Office have been able to increase in line with a growing workload. That workload has continued to increase significantly since the application of the GDPR on 25^th May 2018, in particular in terms of the numbers of complaints filed and data breaches notified."

Since 25^th May 2018, 1,700 complaints and 2,500 breach notifications have been received, which represents a doubling of complaints and almost three times the number of breach notifications on the same period in 2017. The increase in funding will facilitate the continuation of the DPC's recruitment programme in 2019, focusing on additional staff in areas such as complaint and breach investigation, legal, and in particular to further strengthen the technology team with the capacity and expertise to regulate the use of personal data in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. Approximately 40 staff will be recruited in 2019 bringing the DPC's total staff to approximately 180.

Referring to the DPC's EU lead supervisory authority role in regulating the many global technology multinationals with European headquarters located in Ireland, the Commissioner stated that “the additional funding will be critical to the DPC's ongoing effective supervision of these companies and to the expeditious and fair conclusion of investigations into complaints and data breaches relating to these companies. This lead EU regulatory role places the DPC at the frontline of global data protection regulation. The 2019 budget increase is therefore critical to continuing to build the DPC's capacity as an internationally respected, professional and effective supervisory authority."

ENDS

Note for Editors: Data Protection Commission annual funding allocation 2014 – 2019
2019 - €15.2 million
2018 – €11.7 million
2017 – €7.5 million
2016 – €4.7 million
2015 – €3.6 million
2014 – €1.9 million

For media related queries, please contact Graham Doyle Head of Communications on 00353 87 9392359