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THE PERSONAL DATA of a Tipperary man was stolen from the car of a Department of Social Protection employee, it has emerged.
The data files (including PPS numbers) of 51-year-old local man John Cash, together with those of three other people, were taken from a car park in Clonmel in the Munster county in late 2014.
Subsequently, the Data Protection Commissioner ruled that the department (which is now known as the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection – DEASP) had failed “to ensure that appropriate security measures were in place against the unauthorised access” to Cash’s data.
Cash first became aware of the data breach when informed by the department itself (which also stressed that a Garda investigation into the theft had been initiated) in December 2014. While he has received a number of apologies from DEASP, he claims he has heard nothing from the department since the Commissioner ruled against it in December 2016, apart from a note in January of this year stating that the department acknowledged that decision.
Damages
That ruling makes clear that the department may be liable for damages due to the breach, but that is entirely dependent upon the individual in question and whatever legal advice they may receive.
The department said, in responding to the DPC, that the theft occurred as the files in question were being moved from an Employment Services Office to the department’s local office in Tipperary.
“It isn’t about compensation at this stage,” Cash told TheJournal.ie. “It’s about how they’ve handled the whole thing. I can tell you I’m a lot more upset about how the department has treated me than I was by the initial breach.”
It bugs me that the likes of the banks are constantly in the headlines, but a government department ignoring the Data Protection Commissioner isn’t. What’s the point of having a commissioner if a department won’t engage after a decision has been made against it?
The news comes after a rocky week for the Irish civil service, with the Department of Justice in particular being excoriated for its role in the events leading up to the resignation of its former Minister Frances Fitzgerald.
TheJournal.ie requested comment from DEASP on this matter. In response, the department said it “cannot comment on cases concerning identified individuals”.
“However, it is important to state the department takes its responsibilities in relation to data protection very seriously. Every effort is made to ensure that personal customer data is used solely for specific and genuine business purposes,” a spokesperson said.
All members of staff of the department are regularly reminded of their data protection obligations and staff members are required to sign annual undertakings that they have read, and will act in accordance with, data protection policies and guidelines.
“The department co-operates fully with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and always acts in accordance with that office’s Data Security Breach Code of Practice in any case where data has been breached,” they added.
The documents stolen from the car in Clonmel comprised community employment (CE) eligibility forms. The culprit for the robbery has never been identified.
In her judgement, the DPC Helen Dixon mentions that she first wrote to the department concerning the issue on 13 February 2015. A response was received on 20 March, suggesting that the files had been taken from the “locked glove box of a staff member’s car”.
Glove box
In the DPC’s written judgement, it is subsequently mentioned that the department “failed to keep your personal data secure as it was stolen following a forcible entry to the vehicle of a DSP member who was storing the files in her case”.
Click here to view a larger image
Cash claims that as he understands the situation, the employee “had left her briefcase in the car on the back seat and the car was broken into”.
“I have yet to see a briefcase that can fit into a glove box,” he said.
However, in the aftermath of the theft, each of the four individuals whose data was taken received an anonymous letter (accompanied with the relevant employment form and a DEASP compliment slip signed by the staff member in question) informing them that their files had come into the public domain.
Following the robbery, DEASP informed all four individuals of what had transpired. Cash subsequently made his complaint to the DPC in February of 2015.
In ruling against DEASP, the commissioner acknowledged that despite attempts to amicably conclude the disagreement, “the office was ultimately unable to mediate a satisfactory outcome between the data subject and data controller”.
When asked by the DPC as to what measures it had taken both to address Cash’s concerns and to prevent a reoccurrence of the breach, DEASP responded that its area manager had met with him and issued an apology. The department also said that Cash had been issued with a Public Services Card (PSC) in the interim which “reduces the potential for forgery and fraudulent use through its stringent security features”.
Public Services Card
There was no evidence of “any inappropriate access” to Cash’s social welfare record, the department said. It also added that it had been willing to issue a new PPS number to him “as a form of amicable resolution”.
DEASP has been at the centre of multiple stories regarding how it handles the data of the citizenry in recent times, with most resulting from the department’s announced intention to expand its services to be entirely based upon the controversial Public Services Card.
The data theft was meanwhile recently the subject of a parliamentary question on the part of TD Richard Boyd Barrett on behalf of Cash.
Responding, current Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty said that “the department takes customer privacy very seriously”.
As custodian of personal information, staff members of the department are reminded continuously about the importance of information security and to be vigilant and aware of data protection legal obligations. If there is a breach of data, the incident is investigated and corrective measures are put in place, in accordance with data protection legislation.
“The incident involving this person was fully investigated, in the course of which a number of communications issued to the person. He received a number of written apologies and a Department official met with the person and again apologised,” she added.
“The mistake the commissioner made I feel was that, in stating the findings, she said that the four people affected may be entitled to compensation,” said Cash. “This I believe is the reason why I haven’t heard from the department.”
I would have been more than happy just go over the findings with them, to have them look me in the eye and accept fault. Instead they ignored me.
“The ultimate sanction is for someone to lose their job,” he added. “I don’t want that – it was a stupid mistake, but a genuine mistake.”
I just want to see a situation where government departments are held properly accountable.
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We have duel climate control in the car and my wife still isn’t happy because apparently the cold air from my side keeps seeping over to her side. Bloody air doing what it wants.
Tell her that violates thermodynamics.
“Lisa, get in here! In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!”
So in terms of air-conditioning it’s better for the environment to set it by female standards. Wouldn’t that mean in Winter it’s worse for the environment when more heating would be required? 6 of 1 etc.
Shush with your logic. Logic has no place in these arguments.
Air-conditioning is a social construct anyway. Men and women are equal.
Air conditioner? Pff, ’twas far from air conditioners I was raised! Never had air conditioners in any office I ever worked in :(
My office is currently a converted shipping container with a desk and a wobbly chair. Does a draft count as air conditioning?
Ha, gkrell, poor auld Caitlin Jenner is in for a quare hop so. Or does the perceived colder temperature only kick in after the removal of the pump and toolbag?
Journal are you deliberately trying to sabotage yourself ? All these ridiculous nonsense stories and no real news and the number of views are hugely down ? It seems people actually do want to kniow whats going on in the world and don’t want to be drip fed utter nonsense like morons. You’re definitely not a newspaper just another peddler of useless bullshit for the dumb plebs like an online Sun, but you seem to be making a concerted effort to push more in that direction. Guess I should delete the app.
Look at the regular commentors to see who you’re dealing with. The Sun is superior which is some feat.
Sexist air conditioning? Jesus christ will you f*ck off
Fascinating. However running your air con at a higher temperature is not very energy efficient. The solution to feeling cold is to wear more clothes. An office temperature of 25C seems very high and would make most males very uncomfortable. Drop the temperature and dress more warmly. 19C seems about right!
Really…. Fu€k off with this nonsense sexist bull sh!t. So we’ve to redesign air conditioning now because it’s sexist and not equal.
the only problem with ac is most women don’t know how to use the controls
Like I wrote on the story about middle-eastern female body builders; there is literally nothing feminists won’t whinge about.
Put a top on if you’re cold. People who are too hot can’t strip off in the office.
Women are always cold, nothing to do with the air conditioning.
First world problem non story
Jesus Aoife, you’re really scraping the bottom of the “feminist outrage” barrel with this one.
I’d be more concerned that there are loser out there researching this. Maybe they could do something more productive – like scooping up leaves from people’s driveways for free.
Come on now. How else are feminists going to be outraged? They need to be coddled.
Fake tan is racist!
Jesus Aoife do you ever do any real journalism.. your two efforts at it this morning are miserable gutter trash attempts at feminism… surely when your promoting the feminist agenda you should attempt to find actual cases where there is a problem, not where some clown doesn’t like a photo, and telling us air con( which helps you breath in an office ), is sexist
Suggestions for your next few articles aoife….such sexist things as- ice cubes, snow, winter, cold wind. you can even start your own cute hash tag. #coldisbold
I prefer room temperature to be 18°c to 20°c- anything above this I find uncomfortable and get headaches!
Men need to keep their balls cool for health reasons.
So stick a jumper on or deal with a new trend of men going commando in a kilt and knee high desk fans humming under desks everywhere.
Nobody likes sitting in ball soup.
Huh. There’s a lady I work with who gets sick every time the aircon comes on. I wonder if that’s related. I think everyone fights over the room temperature though. Too hot for some, too cold for others. Can’t keep anyone happy.
It recirculates viruses and bacteria. it’s like being in a plane.
That generally has to do with dirty filters in the air con. They need to be serviced once per year usually but no one really does anything about them until they break.
And it’s a power hungry monster. Go to the back of any modern office block. They are huge and getting bigger.
It’s with noting that a female colleague can put on a jumper while us males cannot strip off our shirts. The that SHOULD be on the cooler side. This is not even taking in to account that in general the business dress code allows females to wear clothes that keep them much cooler.
So in the office environment there will be either hot males and cool women or cool males and hot women.
Air conditioning is the most sexist thing I’ve ever heard of!
C.N.S …… Possibly…
( Cold nipple syndrome )
Nothing wrong with being sexy
for f*** sake the politicly correct thought police must be running out of things to complain about if this is what they are dragging up.
do writers on this site work on a view quota / comments quota? seems like pushing some sort of anti-male angle will smash that.
Here they turn it down by an extra 5-7 degrees so women can make a statement about how much money their husbands make with expensive fur coats and Moncler ski jackets that it’s too warm to even consider wearing outside…
It’s pretty sexist… Not to mention environmentally devastating
I can’t agree with the assertion that offices in the 1960s would have been male dominated, the opposite would have been the case.
Get an outdoor job!
if it’s too cold put more clothes on. simples.
Expect a campaign to bring an end to this outrage to start shortly
It will be called “turn the headlights off”
amirite?
Put on some clothes girls.
Simple.
jesus christ what next?
Actually picking a temperature and sticking with it as a norm makes sense. Women’s bodies change temperature wise during their monthly cycle and also during menopause. Both of these times women can usually prefer cooler temperatures. This is a biological fact. Most air conditioning is adjustable anyway. I worked in a predominately all female section a
Sorry phone went ape for a second and posted comment before I finished. Anyway in a mostly female section there was always open warfare about the temperature of the office. Older women wanted cool younger women wanted heat. I wanted peace but it never happened.
so they could come with a “hot-flush” setting?
Not true according to Frozen.
But on a more serious note, what a stupid article, designed solely for the purpose of clickbait, so we can all have a good laugh at feminists(not that the article even has anything to do with feminism, but that’s where certain people are always going to go for a b*tch). It’s articles like this, and then the comments from the eejits who get predictably outraged about how awful feminism is that make any kind of progress in terms of gender equality(whether for women or men) next to impossible to achieve. And all for the sake of a few extra clicks into an article. I’ve stopped reading other websites for this type of crap, I actually expected a bit more from the Journal. Maybe that makes me the dope. =\
” I actually expected a bit more from the Journal. Maybe that makes me the dope. =\ ”
Yup. Especially when they run this article and then a few scrolls up the front page, there is one about ISIS setting market prices for sex slaves.
God Almighty this article is only telling us the results of this guys research and is clearly done in a tongue in cheek manner.
Not every article about women has a feminist agenda yet inevitably these women centred articles attract guys who rant and rave to their hearts content about said women and feminism. Grow up fellas.
Boil your head
Some offices have placebo thermostats that lets people adjust temp to keep them satisfied but actually changes nothing. Fools
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