Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much agree and was very pleased that the Government was in a position to increase substantially the amount of funding available to the Commissioner for Data Protection, having regard to the points mentioned by the Deputy, the importance of the office and the acquisition of full-time headquarters and staff based in Dublin rather than the former decentralised structure. To give one example, a competition for lawyers yielded a far lower candidate pool than was envisaged. That resulted in the under-filling of posts in that area. I am very keen, as is the Commissioner for Data Protection, to ensure that these posts can be filled and that suitable candidates can be sourced.