IrelandGDPR Articles 33-34, Breach Notification in Ireland
Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Arts. 33-34
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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 breach notification rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 24 August 2026.
What it requires
- Notify the Data Protection Commission without undue delay, and within 72 hours where feasible, after becoming aware of a personal data breach affecting a person in Ireland, unless the breach is unlikely to risk their rights and freedoms.
- Notify affected individuals without undue delay where a breach is likely to result in a high risk to their rights and freedoms.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
GDPR Article 83(4)(a): the lower fine tier, up to EUR 10,000,000 or 2% of total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, applies to infringement of the controller and processor obligations in Articles 25 to 39, which include the Article 33 and 34 breach notification duties.
- Rule
- Higher of
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 10,000,000
- Turnover percentage cap
- 2
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
Breach notice
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
A controller must notify the Data Protection Commission without undue delay, and within 72 hours where feasible, after becoming aware of a personal data breach, and must notify affected individuals without undue delay where the breach is likely to result in a high risk to their rights and freedoms. No DPA 2018 derogation from this timeline was identified.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_modelsgenerates_contentdeploys_chatbotautomated_outreachhigh_risk_decisionsprocesses_voiceprocesses_biometrics
Read the law
Official Journal text, EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2016/679
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.