Written answers
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Department of Education and Skills
Data Protection
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
311. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of data breaches experienced by her Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2023. [42362/23]
Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
Please see below in tabular form the number of data breaches that occurred in my Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2023, and the numbers which were reported to the Data Protection Commission (the remainder were deemed to be of no risk due to their nature and therefore were not required to be reported to the DPC).
| Year | No. of Breaches | No. of Breaches reported to DPC | Cases still open |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 5 | 1 | - |
| 2014 | 5 | 1 | - |
| 2015 | 5 | - | - |
| 2016 | 8 | 1 | - |
| 2017 | 8 | 1 | - |
| 2018 | 27 | 5 | - |
| 2019 | 23 | 16 | - |
| 2020 | 45 | 34 | - |
| 2021 | 49 | 34 | - |
| 2022 | 46 | 37 | - |
| 2023 to date | 41 | 26 | 1 |
By way of background to the above figures, it should be noted that the GDPR and Data Protection Act came into effect on 25 May 2018. The breaches from 2013 to 2017 and up to 25 May 2018, were processed under the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003, as well as the 1995 European Union Directive.
No comments