No action taken against tech companies despite 2,000 complaints in 2018

No action has been taken against tech companies in Ireland despite 2,000 complaints being made in the last year.

Ireland is the designated lead regulator in Europe for new data privacy guidelines that came into effect last May.

The Data Protection Commission is currently carrying out 16 investigations - seven of which involve Facebook.

Politico has published an article criticising Ireland for being too lenient on big tech companies because they provide thousands of jobs here.

Author of the article Nicolas Vinocur thinks GDPR is not being enforced because it could damage Ireland's economy.

He said: "For the most part Irish people, academics, researchers, data protection experts say this is also their experience - lax enforcement.

"The cost of imposing a major fine and the cost of carrying an investigation through to its conclusion is potentially dangerous for the Irish economy."