CANDIDATES in the recent Limerick mayoral election have called for the entire ethics framework of the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) to be rebuilt from the ground up to allow it to better function.
This comes after SIPO’s recent data lapse involving Limerick mayoral election candidates, which saw the body not only publish publicly the names and addresses of people who contested to become Limerick first directly-elected mayor, but their bank account numbers and, in some cases, passport details.
Those affected by last week’s data breach included Mayor John Moran, Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan, Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler, Labour councillor Conor Sheehan, and the Socialist Party’s candidate Caitríona Ní Chatháin.
Responding to the data lapse, Deputy Quinlivan said that SIPO’s entire ethics framework now needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.
“On October 4, election statements in relation to the Limerick Mayoral Election were published on the SIPO website. This included pages that were not for public display and the details that should not have been published were taken down on Monday October 7, but it was a further 24 hours later before I was notified of this breach,” Deputy Quinlivan told the Limerick Post.
“The details pertaining to myself were related to account numbers, but I understand there was detailed passport information of other candidates detailed as well.”
The Limerick TD said that SIPO’s designated data protection officer was informed of the lapse but there has since been a lack of clarity around the investigation into how this data breach happened and what steps are being taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“I have always complied with the requests of SIPO and have placed great trust in the important role they serve in Irish public life. This breach has caused damage and I continue to push for a resolution to the matter. To date, the communication from SIPO has been less than satisfactory. I have made a complaint to the Data Protection Commission and I hope this will mean that in future the Standards In Public Office Commission will be much more careful when dealing with people’s election returns.”
Deputy Quinlivan considers it vitally important that SIPO address these concerns to ensure the public can have confidence in the organisation.
“The entire ethics framework needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to allow SIPO better function,” he told this newspaper.
He also hit out at “the fact that Oireachtas members are not required to disclose their liabilities above a certain threshold, excluding the private home, is a major weakness that has long been identified and needs to be addressed”.
Cllr Conor Sheehan, who stood in the election for the Labour Party, said that after the mayoral election, as required under law, he spent a number of weeks compiling his SIPO return making sure that everything was declared and in order.
“I was shocked to receive a phone call last week from a journalist to tell me that my personal bank details were on display on the SIPO website along with my IBAN, BIC, and other personal documents,” he told the Limerick Post.
“While I received an apology from SIPO this week, I sincerely hope that they put in place the necessary measures to ensure that this never happens again. This is a good example of why we need GDPR and how it is there essentially to protect our privacy.”
In response, the Standards in Public Office Commission said it is fully aware of its obligations in relation to data protection as governed by the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
“In circumstances where a breach is identified, the Commission will always follow up in line with appropriate policies and procedures,” a SIPO spokesperson said.
