Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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126. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of investigations she has carried out into the suspected leaking of personal details from the social protection database in each of the past five years, and the outcome in each case. [43923/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The following table contains the information requested.

NUMBER OF INVESTIGATIONS CARRIED OUT INTO SUSPECTED LEAKING OF PERSONAL DETAILS IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS AND OUTCOME

All members of staff of the Department are regularly reminded of their data protection obligations and the consequences of not adhering to policies such as loss of increment, loss of entitlement to enter promotional competitions and dismissal. Staff members are required to sign annual undertakings that they have read, and will act in accordance with, data protection policies and guidelines.

A range of specific measures are in place to strengthen data protection governance and compliance within the Department.

A high-level working group is in place to examine, and progress, all aspects of data protection compliance in the Department.

In June the Department ran its annual Data Protection Awareness Week for staff. Activities this year included a very effective short video on social engineering which was developed in-house and made available to all staff; a data protection newsletter issued to all staff; presentations were made to hundreds of staff nationwide and posters were exhibited in headquarter and local offices drawing attention to the importance of securing customers’ personal data.

Oversight is maintained by logging data accesses which are subject to audit. All allegations of data breaches are fully investigated and the Department cooperates fully with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in all its investigations.