Ireland appoints new DP Commissioner

Ireland has appointed Helen Dixon as the new Data Protection Commissioner. Ms Dixon has previously held senior management positions with the Companies Registration Office and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

According to the Irish Times, Ms Dixon has a degree in Applied Languages (French and German), a Masters in European Economic and Public Affairs, a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science and a Masters in Governance from Queen’s University Belfast.

Minister for Data Protection, Dara Murphy, welcomed the appointment: “The role of the office of the Data Protection Commissioner as an independent body which has responsibility for safeguarding data in Ireland is of critical importance.”

Ireland’s DP Commissioner is responsible for enforcing DP rules in all sectors including large multinationals that have established their European headquarters in Ireland, including Facebook, Apple, and Google. The DP Commissioner was due to finish its audit of LinkedIn this autumn, but the results have not been made public.

Ms Dixon takes up the position in the next few weeks following the retirement of Billy Hawkes, who has served as Commissioner since 2005.