Cybersecurity Policy Report, Report Charts Irish Privacy Agency’s Work in 2025, (Jun 30, 2026)
By Tony Foley
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) today released its 2025 annual report detailing the significant work of the office during 2025, along with the results of an independent survey on the practice of “sharenting.”
Increased caseload. The 2025 annual report, which may be downloaded from the DPC’s press release, highlighted a 45% increase in cases reported to the agency from 2024 to 2025, along with a 12% increase in cases concluded by the DPC. In addition, the agency provided input on over 77 pieces of proposed legislation in 2025, compared to 56 such items in 2024, and concluded a total of 275 electronic direct marketing investigations in 2025, up 88% from the prior year.
Total breach notifications received by the DPC in 2025 reached 6,521, a 16% decrease from 2024. Almost half of the breaches resulted from correspondence being sent to the wrong recipient, and the DPC said that 85% of the notifications were completed by the end of 2025.
Finally, the report summarizes four large-scale inquiries from 2025, including inquiries into TikTok regarding transfers of data to China (CPR, May 2, 2025) and a reprimand resulting from the Department of Social Protection’s improper processing of biometric facial templates and the use of associated facial recognition technologies (CPR, June 12, 2025).
“2025 saw an unprecedented 45% increase in cases received by the Data Protection Commission (DPC), many of which involved the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by persons making complaints, adding to the volume and complexity of the documentation presented,” said DPC Commissioner Des Hogan. “At the same time, the scale and complexity of the use of personal data by rapidly advancing AI technologies increased significantly, with heightened risks and harms for individuals. Despite challenges such as these, we saw a significant increase in cases concluded throughout the year.”
Sharenting survey. In connection with the release of the annual report, the DPC also published the results of an independent survey, undertaken in collaboration with the French data protection authority on “sharenting,” which describes the practice of parents regularly sharing information, photos, and videos of their children on social media and other online platforms. Among the key findings of the survey, which polled more than 1,000 parents in Ireland and France, are the following:
Three out of four parents have shared content related to their children online in the past year;
One in three parents share daily or several times a week about their children;
Of the respondents who shared content of their children, 14% of Irish parents and 10% of French parents consider themselves to be “parent influencers”;
40% of parents never or rarely sought their children’s consent before sharing content;
66% of Irish parents identified the risk of their children’s image being misused by strangers, and 55% are concerned about the use of AI and deepfakes in relation to the imagery;
Between half to two-thirds of parents in both countries said that sharing moments with their friends and family was the primary motivation for sharenting, with 3%-4% saying that their motivation stemmed from generating additional income; and
Nine out of 10 parents shared content about their children to a restricted audience.
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