Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I again express my solidarity with the Tánaiste and his family in the face of the horrible threats made against him, which I have condemned. Indeed, they are profoundly anti-democratic. We know that the online space plays a huge role in fomenting this sort of hate. In that context we should all be concerned to see the exposé on RTÉ's "Prime Time" tonight, which will show the serious national security threat arising from the sale of real-time bidding location data. "Prime Time" investigators were handed RTB data showing movements of individuals, including family members of prominent individuals around their homes and other spaces. The Tánaiste's experience highlights just how serious and how appalling this could be.

It is no surprise tech companies are doing this but what is surprising is that the Data Protection Commission has been aware of this illegal behaviour since a whistleblower informed it in 2017. It is not about lack of legislation or lack of money. We understand the DPC has received €162.3 million since 2017. Given that the DPC has been aware of the use of RTB location data for eight years, how can we continue to have confidence in the DPC to protect people in the face of what could be a very serious threat to individual privacy and indeed could amount to a national security threat?

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