The recent budget provided a welcome increase of just over 20% for the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. We have seen problems with the administration of the general data protection regulation, GDPR, regime here. Data protection authorities in other countries have tried to sidestep us. The Data Protection Commission has been called out for being a roadblock in the enforcement of GDPR. This is a reputational risk to us and, ultimately, an erosion of the fundamental right of European Union citizens to privacy.

Will the Government use the increase to follow the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Justice to appoint two further commissioners and to begin an independent audit and review of the policies and procedures of the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure that we protect citizens' rights?

I support the Deputy's motivation on the protection of citizens' rights and the proper application of GDPR. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has emerged as a strong enough institution. The additional resources will help to resource the office. It does need to be consistently resourced over time and to build up its capacity to enable it to deal with the wide range of issues that come our way in terms of European citizens. We will keep the recommendations of the Oireachtas committee under review.