A senior data protection official has described as "shameful and shocking" how a number of credit unions helped private investigators dupe civil servants into handing over citizens’ personal details.

Two female private investigators who pretended to be HSE and VEC officials were able to blag personal data from other civil servants to help credit unions find members who had defaulted on their loans.

The body tasked with regulating private investigators has no target date for introducing regulations despite being set up 10 years ago.