DPC warned RTÉ over staff activities register, FOI shows

RTÉ was warned that complaints about releasing personal information from TV and radio stars were inevitable if they went ahead with a plan to publish a register of external activities, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information.

The Data Protection Commission also threatened the broadcaster with enforcement in the event they did not protect the personal data of staff and contractors.

In the wake of the RTÉ spending controversy, the broadcaster had wanted to make available a list of when employees had done external work, sometimes involving payment of significant fees.

However, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) put a spanner in the works saying the plans represented a "serious interference with the fundamental rights to respect for private life" under law.

An email to RTÉ in June said: "Please note that the DPC has also been made aware that a number of individuals are very concerned regarding the legal basis for processing [their personal data].
"It is likely that these concerns will be escalated as complaints to the DPC if the processing is to proceed."

The commission also said they had been in touch with the Department of Tourism and Culture over their concerns that RTÉ had decided "not to implement our recommendation".

The Data Protection Commission warned too they would not be afraid to use their powers to ensure the protection of individual data protection rights.

The list that was eventually published had only anonymised information including that one person had earned over €10,000 outside of RTÉ.

Correspondence released under FOI reveals how as early as December last year, trouble was brewing over the proposal.

In a letter to RTÉ, the DPC said they were surprised to hear in media reports they had apparently "signed off" on plans for a published register.

A letter from their Deputy Commissioner Cathal Ryan added: "I appreciate that neither organisation can fully control how events are characterised and reported upon in the media.

"However, given these developments, I think it is important to confirm and clarify [our] role."

The DPC said an informal meeting with RTÉ had only been for discussion and it was unclear to them how publication of the amount each star had received would help avoid "conflicts of interest".

The letter said: "Processing exact remuneration details appears superfluous to this objective."

RTÉ responded in January saying they now understood that the most "significant concern" was over publication of the actual amount a TV or radio star had been paid.

It said: "[We] will not collect any specific payment information, unless payment for a given activity exceeds €10,000 (which is rare)."

RTÉ said the register was needed to help win back public trust and because staff were able to do outside earners "often off the back of the reputation they have built from their association with the [broadcaster]."

In early February, the DPC responded again raising concerns, saying RTÉ needed to be fully transparent with employees about what they were doing.

A letter said: "It is not clear whether staff at present fully understand the implications of the proposed processing [of personal data] and issues may only become apparent [later]."

The DPC also confirmed that they had already been contacted by RTÉ staff members who were worried about what the register would mean for them personally.

In late February, RTÉ wrote back to say they were in discussions with Minister Catherine Martin's department about what was legally possible.

Another letter came from the DPC in March saying their view was that periodic publication of a register of employee 'nixers’, even without details of how much they were paid, would "represent a significant interference to an individual."

By July, RTÉ had accepted defeat saying that a register for "internal management purposes" would be kept.

However, they said they would not be going ahead with their high-profile plans for a publicly available version including the names of individuals and fees.

A letter from their Director of Legal Affairs Daniel Coady said: "You advised that RTÉ should pause the publication of the register and engage with the department to begin the process of drafting necessary legislation.

"The position of the DPC is that if RTÉ proceeds with publication of the register as currently planned i.e. in the absence of explicit statutory provision, the DPC will invoke its various powers to direct RTÉ to cease."

The broadcaster said they would instead only go ahead with publication of an "aggregate statistical analysis" of the register, which was released in early August.

It said that there were 133 "approved activities" in the first quarter of the year with half involving no fee at all.

Around a quarter of them involved payments of between just €1 and €1,000 while 22% concerned fees of between €1,000 and €5,000.

There were a small number of payments worth between €5,000 and €10,000 and only one that exceeded €10,000.

Asked about the records, a spokesman for RTÉ said they had nothing further to add to the contents.