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The Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland (DPC) has been granted a referral by the Irish High Court to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to determine the validity of three decisions of the Europe Commission insofar as they apply to data transfers from the European Economic area (the EEA) to the United States. The referral was granted in the proceedings by the DPC against Facebook Ireland Ltd. and Austrian lawyer Maximilian Schrems. The case was grounded in a complaint made by Mr Schrems in 2013 about the transfer of his personal data by Facebook Ireland Limited (Facebook) outside...

On 23 August 2017, the Minister for Communications, Climate action and Environment, Mr Denis Naughten, announced the designation of the All-Ireland Senior Ladies Gaelic and Camogie (team sport played by women similar to hurling) Finals as “events of major importance to society”. The designation ensures that these sporting events “remain available on a free-to-air and live basis” for Irish television audiences. The European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU, allows member states to designate certain sporting and cultural events as being of major importance to society and to...

On 11 July 2017, the European Commission published its decision concerning the financing of public broadcasting in Ireland, following a complaint from a private broadcaster regarding alleged breaches of State aid rules under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Notably, the decision also concerns the competitive behaviour of public broadcasters in the advertising market. The current system of State financing of public broadcasters RTÉ and TG4 in Ireland was approved by the European Commission in a 2008 Decision (see IRIS 2008-4/8), under which the Irish authorities agreed to implement...

On 3 August 2017, the Compliance Committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) issued a notable number of decisions (11 in total) on offensive expression and religion arising from comments made on a programme broadcast by the public broadcaster RTÉ. The BAI had received a number of complaints over the programme, including those from priests and a Christian association, generating coverage in the media. The decisions are noteworthy because they show how the BAI assesses the distinction between offence and harm; they outline which duties are applicable to broadcasters and presenters to...

On 1 September 2017, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Short News Reporting Code of Practice came into effect. Under the legislation (S.I. 258/2010 and S.I. 247/2012) which incorporates the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2010/13/EU) into Irish law, the BAI is required to develop a code of practice concerning short news reports provision. The Code reflects Article 15 of the AVMS Directive, and provides that a television broadcaster under the jurisdiction of the State that has acquired exclusive television broadcasting rights for an event that is of high interest to the public shall...