Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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250. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 655 of 18 May 2021, the details of the underspend within the Data Protection Commissioner’s budget for the 2020 fiscal year statement. [28837/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the shortfall in expenditure in relation to pay of €2.7m was mainly driven by slower than anticipated recruitment, due to the requirement to move recruitment completely online during 2020. This move required the procurement and development of processes for online tests and examinations, which delayed recruitment campaigns by several months.

The shortfall in expenditure in relation to non-pay of €2.0m was primarily driven by slower than initially planned ICT project implementation, as a result of further analysis being required on infrastructure and services, following decision-making on data migration, workflows and security options.

The shortfall in non-pay expenditure was also driven by less than anticipated ICT charges, due to lower than forecasted staff headcount. In addition, there were lower than anticipated operational costs due to remote working, a delay in procuring new additional office space, and a less than anticipated requirement for consultancy services.