Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the co-operation of the House in respect of this important and complex legislation, which arises following four years of negotiation. The legislation will take effect across Europe from next week, on 25 May. We did have good opportunity to discuss it in some detail, acknowledging the principal objectives of the legislation to give further effect in national law to the articles of the GDPR, to transpose the law enforcement directive into national law, the setting up of the Data Protection Commission with up to three commissioners which will replace the Data Protection Commissioner, and of course to equip the Data Protection Commission with the necessary powers and resources.

I acknowledge the contributions of Members on all sides. I was pleased to have the opportunity of accepting some of the amendments and acknowledging the will and wishes of the majority of the House as far as others are concerned. The resources allocated to the Data Protection Commission have been increased to €11.7 million for this year, up from €1.9 million in 2014. This is to prepare for the expanded role and the increased workload that will come with the implementation of the directive and the GDPR. The additional funding has facilitated the recruitment of additional staff, including legal and technical experts and experts of an investigative nature. Staff resources have trebled, from 30 in 2013 to almost 100 now. I am very pleased that we will be in a position to meet the accepted deadline. There are a number of amendments that will take us back to the Seanad next week.

I thank everybody involved. In particular, I thank my officials, Mr. Seamus Carroll and Ms Noreen Walsh, for their diligence over a lengthy period on Second Stage and Committee Stage of this House, and in the Seanad, where we had a great level of detail on the legislation.

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