The State\u2019s regulators charged with overseeing the US tech and social media giants based in the Republic have privately warned the Government their offices are under-resourced and said extra staff were needed to meet an expanding remit. <\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s central role \u201cenforcing\u201d Europe\u2019s digital rules and regulations \u201ccannot be delivered without an adequate level of resources\u201d, four watchdogs warned recently. <\/p>\n
In a joint letter to senior officials in the Department of the Taoiseach<\/a> last month, the regulators appealed for additional funding to respond to a growing workload. <\/p>\n The letter, signed by the heads of the Data Protection Commission<\/a> (DPC), Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n<\/a>, ComReg<\/a> and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission<\/a> (CCPC), pushed the Government to address \u201cresourcing concerns\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThe enactment of several major pieces of EU legislation governing the digital space has led to a significant increase in the regulatory remit,\u201d the regulators said in a December 9th letter. <\/p>\n The correspondence said extra staff at senior levels would be needed to keep pace. <\/p>\n New regulations at European Union<\/a>-level include the Digital Services Act, which aims to clamp down on the spread of illegal content online, and rules governing the use of artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) by private companies. <\/p>\n Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n, the State\u2019s online safety and media regulator, has been asked to contribute to a European Commission investigation into the Grok feature that allowed users on the X platform to \u201cundress\u201d images of people<\/a>, including children, without their consent. <\/p>\n Previous Irish governments faced sustained criticism of failing to staff properly Ireland\u2019s data protection watchdog in the run up to the introduction of the EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation<\/a> (GDPR) in 2018. <\/p>\n The budget and headcount of the DPC has increased substantially over the last decade. <\/p>\n The DPC is responsible for conducting investigations into any suspected breaches of strict EU data protection rules by US tech and social media giants, such as Facebook-owner Meta<\/a>, X and Google<\/a>, because their European headquarters are based in the State. <\/p>\n Digital privacy campaigners have always accused the DPC of going too soft on tech multinationals, a charge the regulator has consistently rejected. <\/p>\n It is understood new EU digital regulations and the increasing volume of complaints submitted to State regulators have put pressure on the workforce of Irish watchdogs. <\/p>\n The recent correspondence signals a possible budget tussle between the Government and the regulatory bodies over the coming months. <\/p>\n \u201cWe would like to reiterate our call for the provision of adequate resources for each regulator as an essential prerequisite to ensuring Ireland can retain its important role as being a regulatory hub of choice for digital industries,\u201d the letter said. <\/p>\n The correspondence, addressed to John Shaw, assistant secretary general at the Department of the Taoiseach, was released to The Irish Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. <\/p>\n \u201cWe would welcome a clear commitment from relevant departments to providing additional resources, particularly at senior level,\u201d the letter said. <\/p>\n The letter was signed by Jeremy Godfrey, chairman of Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n, Des Hogan, DPC chair, Garrett Blaney, chair of ComReg, and CCPC chair Brian McHugh. <\/p>\n Allocating sufficient funding for staff was a \u201ckey prerequisite\u201d to each regulator being able to \u201ccontinue to discharge their responsibilities in a timely and efficient manner\u201d, the letter said. <\/p>\n Senior civil servants discussed the request for additional funding with officials from the four regulators last month, a Department of the Taoiseach spokesman said.<\/p>\n The Government was committed to \u201censuring our digital regulators are sufficiently resourced to deliver a modern, cohesive regulatory framework that is responsive to the evolving digital age\u201d, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The State\u2019s regulators charged with overseeing the US tech and social media giants based in the Republic 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