More than 1,000 data protection officers (DPOs) have been appointed by organisations across Ireland since GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) became law across Europe in May 2018. That’s according to the latest annual report from the Data Protection Commission(DPC).
To support the surge in the number of DPOs, the DPC said that it will be rolling out supports for a DPO network in Ireland in the second quarter of 2019.
The DPC reported it received 2,864 privacy complaints from the public since GDPR was enacted in May and 4,113 in total for 2018, up 56pc on the previous year. It also revealed that in total, 4,740 valid data security breaches were notified in the 2018 calendar year, up 70pc on the previous year.
Around 136 cross-border processing complaints were received by the DPC through its new one-stop-shop mechanism lodged by individuals with other EU data protection authorities.
The DPC also revealed that the first stream of a public consultation on the processing of children’s personal data and the rights of children as data subjects under GDPR was launched on 19 December 2018.
The DPC has grown its staff numbers to 135 people and will recruit an additional 30 staff this year to meet the demands of GDPR.
