Dr Johnny Ryan

A proposed amendment to the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022 would allow the DPC to direct individuals not to disclose certain “confidential information” without permission.

ICCL has called on TDs to reject the amendment when it comes before them on Wednesday, arguing that it will “gag” people from speaking about how the DPC handles their complaint, and from speaking about how big tech firms or public bodies are misusing their data.

The NGO also warned that the amendment could conflict with forthcoming EU regulations on the conduct of cross-border GPDR cases.

Dr Johnny Ryan, senior fellow with ICCL, said: “Justice should be done in public. The DPC should be holding public GDPR hearings, as the Supreme Court’s Zalewski decision makes clear.

“Instead, the Government is attempting to make DPC decision-making even more opaque. The DPC is already exempted from freedom of information rules that could have aided in its reform.”

He added: “Ireland’s enforcement of the GDPR against big tech, and how it upholds the data rights of everyone in Europe, should not be the subject of eleventh-hour amendments inserted during the end-of-term legislative rush.

“We ask the government why it wants to do this? And why has it attempted to do so in a last-minute amendment that evades proper scrutiny?”