Mary Lou McDonald
Question:939. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of data protection breaches identified within her Department in 2019. [33852/20]
View answerDáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
939. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of data protection breaches identified within her Department in 2019. [33852/20]
View answerIn 2019, my Department identified 374 data breaches.
My Department takes data protection obligations very seriously. In order to protect the personal data of its customers, the Department has in place a set of data protection policies, procedures and guidelines.
While every data breach is a matter of great concern to my Department, the number of confirmed breaches should be viewed in the context of the scale of the Department’s business, administering over 70 separate schemes and services and processing almost 2 million applications every year.