IrelandGDPR Article 22, Automated Decision-Making in Ireland
Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Art. 22, as transposed by the Data Protection Act 2018
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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force since 25 May 2018.
A data subject rights rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 24 August 2026.
What it requires
- Honor a person's request to access, rectify, erase, restrict, port, or object to processing of their personal data within one month of receipt, as required by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Articles 12 to 23, subject to the narrower research and archiving exceptions in Data Protection Act 2018 Sections 41 to 43.
- Provide a meaningful human review before finalizing any decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects for a person in Ireland, under GDPR Article 22.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
GDPR Article 83(5)(b): the higher fine tier, up to EUR 20,000,000 or 4% of total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, applies to infringement of the data subjects' rights in Articles 12 to 22, including the Article 22 right against solely automated decision making.
- Rule
- Higher of
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 20,000,000
- Turnover percentage cap
- 4
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Data Protection Commission (An Coimisiún um Chosaint Sonraí), Ireland's supervisory authority under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Enforcement record
Counts the Data Protection Commission's finalised large scale statutory inquiries that resulted in an administrative fine in calendar year 2025 (4), per the Commission's own press release announcing its 2025 Annual Report, published 2026-06-30: two fines totalling EUR 530 million against TikTok Technology Limited over transfers of EEA user data to China, and a EUR 550,000 fine against the Department of Social Protection over biometric facial matching in the Public Services Card registration process; fines_per_year of just over EUR 530.77 million is the release's own stated total for the year. Public enforcement actions only, counted from the Commission's own announcement rather than a private tracker; the release does not restate a cumulative since-2018 total, so total_fines is not recorded here. This is the regime's own enforcement record, not specific to this instrument.
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- EUR
- Source link
- https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/data-protection-commission-publishes-2025-annual-report
- Fines per year
- 530,770,000
- Actions per year
- 4
What it reaches
Obligation class
Data subject rights, Governance
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Articles 12 to 23 apply, including Article 22 rights against a decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects, which the DPA 2018 gives domestic effect to with the DPC as enforcement authority. Where an automated decision is permitted, on contract necessity, legal authorization, or explicit consent, the controller must implement human-intervention, point-of-view, and contest safeguards.
Sections 41 to 43 of the DPA 2018 narrow specific data-subject rights, including the Article 22 adjacent rights of access, rectification, restriction and objection, for archiving in the public interest, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes where exercising the right would render the purpose impossible or seriously impair it.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_modelsgenerates_contentdeploys_chatbotautomated_outreachhigh_risk_decisions
Read the law
Official Journal text, EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2016/679
Data Protection Act 2018 §§41-43
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.