Gardaí accessed celebrities’ sensitive personal data without good reason

Sensitive personal data of celebrities, media personalities and sports stars held on Garda computers have been accessed without good reason by individual gardaí, the Data Protection Commissioner has found.

Billy Hawkes said two high-profile celebrities had their records accessed over 80 times and more than 50 times respectively by members of the force.

In addition, individual gardaí accessed the records of three well-known media personalities and a top inter-county GAA player.