Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned earlier that I submitted a question some months ago to all Ministers about agencies under their remit with authority to take court prosecutions. In his reply on 2 April 2019, the Minister for Justice and Equality indicated that in 2014, the Data Protection Commission prosecuted fines through the courts totalling €25,000, all of which was collected. In 2015, just one company was fined €2,000, which was collected in full. In 2016, ten companies and one company director were prosecuted, with total fines of €16,600 issued, of which €7,500 was still outstanding in April this year. In 2017, seven companies and one company director were prosecuted, with fines totalling €24,000 and an amount outstanding at the end of April of €20,000. In 2018, the fines imposed totalled €6,000 and the amount outstanding in April 2019 was €3,040. I was interested to see the figures for moneys not collected. Ms Dixon has confirmed that the loss is not to her office but to the Central Fund and, therefore, the taxpayer. The amounts involved are not large at this stage, but there was mention earlier of a figure of €1 million.