Alleged excessive data gathering by the Department of Social Protection is being examined by the Data Protection Commission (DPC).

This is in relation to “the use of the travel pass when scanning the card on different modes of transport, as well as any issues surrounding the transparency of these processing activities in this regard”.

Noteworthy was informed of a complaint to the DPC and began looking into this in March 2022. Over the following two months, we investigated data gathering by the Department, the National Transport Authority (NTA) and a number of transport providers.

Our editorial team deemed this project was not suitable for crowdfunding - as is the case for certain investigations, speed of publication was a priority. Therefore, it was funded in its entirety by the Noteworthy investigative fund.

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WE INVESTIGATED

This investigation involved extensive research and press requests after a number of documents, letters and other correspondence were provided to Noteworthy.

Over the course of two months, we sent numerous queries to the Department of Social Protection and the National Transport Authority. We also raised issues with the main transport operators including Irish Rail, Transdev - operator of the Luas, Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Go-Ahead Ireland.

You can read the results of this investigation here>>

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