Aspects to keep in mind about data protection in Ireland

Ireland is a country that is considered a favorite of large technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, among others. For this reason, its role is to protect the enormous amount of personal information of citizens, European or not. Data ranges from health, biometrics, emails, web searches, financial data, etc. It is information protected by the RGPD.

There are complaints that the GDPR does not apply to large technology multinationals. This has led to discomfort on the part of other European authorities regarding this issue. What is desired is that complaints are not allowed to pass in order to avoid creating a regulatory vacuum. However, there is progress, since in the news it is possible to find notes related to the RGPD. For example, on the way in which social networks store user data, especially if they are minors.

More compliance is still necessary in the matter, as is the case of minors who use a company profile to access a social network. The most far-reaching social networks have found in Ireland the perfect place to settle and have their tax headquarters. For this reason, your data protection supervisor must be fully aware of these companies. This is because they store the data of citizens in third countries.

What does the General Data Protection Regulation (RGDP) refer to?

To begin with, it is important to define what personal data is. It refers to all information that has to do with an identified or identifiable living person (“interested”). The data subject is identifiable if he uses an “identifier”, for example, names, identification numbers, photos, location data. Other identifiers can be physical, genetic, or cultural.

Returning to the regulation, it is specially designed to give citizens more security and control of their personal data. Since 2018, Enterprise Ireland has been subject to the GDPR, which has replaced the one in charge of the EU Data Protection Directive. Among the individual rights offered by the RGPD are the following:

• To be informed
• Access
• To rectification
• Erasure
• Limitation of treatment
• Opposition
• Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling

How do I submit a request for access to information regarding this topic?

For this, it is necessary to make a statement where the request is made according to the GDPR and offering as much information as possible. It must include the format in which it is required to receive the published records, as well as proof of identification. The message should be addressed to:

Paula Maguire, Data Protection Officer

Office of Data Protection and Freedom of Information

Enterprise Ireland

The Plaza

Eastpoint Business Park

Dublin 3

GDPRonline@enterprise-ireland.com

Phone: +353 1 7272478

The request will be accepted in five working days, where Enterprise Ireland will inform within a month if there is any extension in the term and the reasons for it. This type of request does not imply a cost. Only in case the requests are deemed “unfounded or excessive”, a fee would be charged or even denied such request. If you know more about that, please: contact us.