It is absolutely terrifying to think that in Ireland in 2025, people can be tracked right to their very door through data that is being openly sold, according to Social Democrats justice spokesperson Gary Gannon.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gannon said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a breach of privacy and, as Women\u2019s Aid CEO Sarah Benson rightly pointed out, a \u2018gift to stalkers, abusers, and those who wish to do harm\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictims of domestic violence, members of our Defence Forces, Garda\u00ed, political representatives, and ordinary citizens have all been left exposed by a failure to act on warnings that go back years.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigations have revealed that phone data from prisons, Garda stations, military bases, and even schools can be isolated and traced back to individual homes – Women\u2019s Aid, the Garda Representative Association, and the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers have all warned of the huge dangers this poses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a new issue – the Irish Council for Civil Liberties raised alarms as far back as 2017. It showed that data from abuse survivors and people with serious health conditions was being bought and sold on the open market.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment and the Data Protection Commission were told again in 2020 \u2013 and still nothing was done. That systemic failure is why we are here today. The regulator ignored warnings and complaints, which now claims surprise at what Prime Time uncovered. That is simply not credible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve written to the Minister for Justice calling for urgent structural changes to the Data Protection Commission, including stronger oversight, accountability, and enforcement powers, to ensure it fulfils its obligations under GDPR and protects Irish citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter years of warnings, it is unacceptable that we remain exposed to blackmail, harassment, exploitation, and surveillance because of official inaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a national security crisis – the only meaningful response is to fix our broken regulator. Anything less would leave people in real and present danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 23rd, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is absolutely terrifying to think that in Ireland in 2025, people can be tracked right to their very door through data that is being openly sold, according to Social Democrats justice spokesperson Gary Gannon. Deputy Gannon said: \u201cThis is a breach of privacy and, as Women\u2019s Aid CEO Sarah Benson rightly pointed out, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,722,316,411,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-data","category-gary-gannon","category-justice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n