The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has submitted a formal complaint against Ireland to the European Commission over the appointment of a third Commissioner of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC).
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said that Ireland failed to provide adequate safeguards for independence and impartiality in its process to appoint the new Data Protection Commissioner.
That process led to the appointment of what it called an “ex-Meta lobbyist”.
Niamh Sweeney was appointed to the DPC role last month. She had previously held senior positions with technology companies including WhatsApp and Facebook, both run by Meta.
In a statement today, the Council said that Ireland’s appointment process lacked procedural safeguards against conflicts of interest and political interference and may be interpreted by the tech industry as a signal of impunity.
It said EU law requires that independent supervisory authorities must not only be impartial and independent but must also be above any suspicion of partiality.
“That one of the four individuals of Ireland’s panel to select candidates for Data Protection Commissioner a State official and another works for the sector that contributes substantially to the Irish economy invites doubts about partiality and conflict of interest,” the Council added.
“Ireland’s panel to select candidates also lacked the necessary expertise,” it added.
The Council said the result was the appointment of an individual who appears to have no technical, legal, or investigative expertise.
“To the contrary, the appointee was in fact lobbying against a high standard of protection of personal data and the objectives of the DPC in their previous roles,” its statement added.
“The European Commission must intervene,” the Irish Council for Civil Liberties stated.
A group of privacy organisations, including the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, have also written to the Government expressing concerns over the appointment of Niamh Sweeney.