Niamh Hodnett is leaving one large regulatory watchdog body for another as the state grapples with what to do next on protecting kids from social media platforms
Outgoing online safety commissioner Niamh Hodnett
Ireland’s Online Safety Commissioner, Niamh Hodnett, is to leave her role to become a third commissioner at the country’s telecoms regulator, ComReg.
Hodnett has been the Online Safety Commissioner, a role within media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, since 2023.
Her appointment, advertised at a salary ranging from €190,000 upwards, was announced by the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan.
ComReg already has two commissioners, chairman Garret Blaney and Robert Mourik. In late 2023, former Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon was appointed as the watchdog’s third commissioner but left again shortly after a year. Dixon recently joined Mason Hayes & Curran as a global digital regulatory consultant.
Hodnett has previously worked for both public and private sector bodies, serving as chief legal and regulatory officer at the National Lottery and head of regulatory affairs at 3 Ireland. She also previously worked at ComReg as well as at legal firms Matheson and Mayer Brown.
“As Ireland’s first online safety commissioner, Niamh had a vital role to play in bringing self-regulation of platforms to an end in leading on the application of Ireland’s first online safety code,” said Minister O’Donovan.
“This will be invaluable experience as she joins ComReg, where she will be regulating an industry of increasing importance to our economy, as we see a growing reliance on electronic communications services.”
The job appointment process was an open competition run by the state recruitment body, publicjobs.
Hodnett’s departure from Coimisiún na Meán comes as the state continues to grapple with how to enforce rules around keeping kids safe online. Recent studies show that a majority of under-13s still use social media against platform rules, despite Coimisiún na Meán announcing an era of enforcement in July of 2025. The government has hinted at a ban on young teens from internet services but has still to speed out specific plans.