ICCL complains to EU about DPC appointment
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has submitted a complaint to the European Commission about the recent appointment of a third commissioner to Ireland’s data-protection watchdog.
The Government announced the appointment of Niamh Sweeney as the third commissioner at the Data Protection Commission (DPC) last month.
Sweeney is a former executive with Stripe, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
argues that Ireland “failed to provide adequate safeguards for independence and impartiality” in its process to appoint the new commissioner, whom it describes as “an ex-Meta lobbyist”.
‘No technical experts’
The organisation also says that the panel that selected the candidates for the post “had no technical experts whatsoever”.
“The result was the appointment of an individual who appears to have no technical, legal, or investigative expertise,” the ICCL states.
Its complaint argues that the appointment process has infringed article 4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and articles 52 and 53 of the GDPR.
The DPC had welcomed the appointment of a third commissioner.