merrion street

Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection Pat Breen T.D. hosted a roundtable with industry representatives today (20 July) to discuss how to build on work to date to realise the potential of data and digital technologies for Ireland's economy and society.
The Minister said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity to hear from people working on the ground in the data and digital technologies sectors on how we can strengthen Ireland’s position as a leading location for data driven companies, from start-ups to multinationals.
I was recently assigned responsibility for data protection and the digital single market. These areas are centrally important for our economy and society and I really look forward to working to build on progress to date. In particular, I see great potential to tie in with my own broader brief in the areas of business and trade – and for Irish based businesses right around the country to leverage data to grow their business and create employment.
I hope to hear from the wide range of stakeholders and organisations in this area so that we build on Ireland’s leadership and ensure we are maximise the potential of data and digital technologies for our citizens - be that in terms of enterprise development or how we deliver key public services more effectively.”
The roundtable discussion, attended by representatives of the enterprise development agencies, Ibec and the American Chamber of Commerce, provided the Minister with the opportunity to hear from industry on what steps Ireland can take to continue to build on this work and maximise the potential of advances in digital and data-driven technologies and to support delivery of the Digital Single Market.
A robust and trusted data protection regime is at the heart of realising the opportunities that data and digital technologies present and Government has undertaken a major programme of work over the past three years to ensure that Ireland’s data protection environment is best in class internationally. This has included the appointment of a Minister for Data Protection; a four-fold increase in the budget for Office of the Data Protection Commissioner since 2014 and establishment of the Government Data Forum, an expertise advisory group to government on data and data protection.