Thread by @tjmcintyre

Almost immediately after the GDPR came into force, the Irish Department of Social Protection seriously interfered with the independence of its DPO: irishtimes.com/news/ireland/i… 1/

A journalist (@ElaineEdwardsIT) had spotted that the dept Privacy Statement acknowledged that it collects biometrics, contrary to repeated earlier denials. She contacted the dept for comment. 2/

To avoid further embarrassment for the department that is to data protection what Sideshow Bob is to rakes, the Secretary General unilaterally ordered the Privacy Statement changed, the same day. 3/

This Privacy Statement had gone through a formal internal approval process, including sign off by a management board, with the involvement of the Data Protection Officer. The Sec Gen bypassed all this, also bypassing the DPO (who happened to be on leave). 4/

Not content with this, the Sec Gen also ordered the DPO to remove any reference to biometrics from any other department GDPR material. Again, with no consultation. 5/

When the redoubtable @ElaineEdwardsIT picked up on the fact that the DPO had been sidelined, the Sec Gen initially attempted to spin the following line. 6/

When the DPO immediately pointed out that he had *not* in fact been involved, the Sec Gen came up with this piece of obfuscation worthy of Sir Humphrey. 7/

I'll leave it to you to decide if this shows integrity in response to misleading the media on a matter of significant public importance.

Meanwhile, here's the full letter of complaint I sent on behalf of @DRIalerts: docdro.id/rMQhylv 8/

The Department of Social Protection holds some of the most sensitive personal data in the State. This blatant undermining of the DPO - almost immediately after the GDPR coming into force - does not bode well for the future. 9/

So, Digital Rights Ireland will pursue this as far as necessary. You can help - follow us @DRIalerts and (obligatory plug) think about a donation at digitalrights.ie/support/ 10/10