Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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297. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the staffing complement and resources of her Department's data protection officer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31488/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Earlier this year a full-time official at Assistant Principal Officer level was assigned as Data Protection Officer (DPO) within my Department and its Offices. Prior to this, the Data Protection Officer role had been shared with other responsibilities but it was considered prudent to assign a full-time official as part of our preparation for the coming into force of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In addition, each Office of the Department has a nominated lead individual for liaison with the DPO on data protection and GDPR related issues. The staffing for the DPO function is being kept under review. 

Training resources to support the work of the DPO have also been made available through my Department's training budget. To date, this funding has provided targeted training to 77 staff from across my Department and its Offices on Data Protection and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Resources will also be used to provide two further one-day GDPR training courses which have been scheduled for Autumn 2018.