Ireland. Comprehensive data protection. Act
DPA 1988Data Protection Act 1988
Partly verified
Medium confidence.The Irish Statute Book blocked direct fetching, so commencement dates come from search-result summaries of S.I. 349/1988; the day of enactment is not confirmed, so only the year is given. The 25 May 2018 repeal date is taken from the DPA 2018 commencement in the existing ie-dpa-2018 row and was not confirmed on a page read. The Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003 is not a separate row because it amended the 1988 Act.
§1Summary
- Synopsis
Ireland's first data protection statute. It gave individuals rights over personal data kept in automated form, required certain data controllers to register, and established the office of the Data Protection Commissioner in 1989. It was extended to manual records and aligned with Directive 95/46/EC by the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003, which amended rather than replaced it. The 1988 and 2003 Acts were repealed when the Data Protection Act 2018 took effect.
- Key themes
- Unique features
Covered automated data only until the 2003 amendments.
- SaaS relevance
Historical only; replaced by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR.
§2Obligations
- Breach notification
- None
- DPO
- No
§3Dates
- Key dates
- Adopted
- In force
- Ended
- Act No. 25 of 1988; registration provisions commenced 9 January 1989 and the rest of the Act (bar two provisions) 19 April 1989 (S.I. 349/1988); amended by the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003; repealed by the Data Protection Act 2018
§4Text and authority
- Text
- Authoritative text irishstatutebook.ie
- Authority
- Data Protection Commissioner
§5Where it applies
- Domestic law of
- Ireland
§6Sources and verification
- Sources consulted
- Verification
Medium confidence.
Partly verified
Medium confidence.The Irish Statute Book blocked direct fetching, so commencement dates come from search-result summaries of S.I. 349/1988; the day of enactment is not confirmed, so only the year is given. The 25 May 2018 repeal date is taken from the DPA 2018 commencement in the existing ie-dpa-2018 row and was not confirmed on a page read. The Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003 is not a separate row because it amended the 1988 Act.