A new data protection commissioner has been named to replace Joe Meade who has been appointed as the financial services ombudsman.
Billy Hawkes is a senior Department of Finance official and former Irish diplomat who also served in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Tourism and Trade.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner works to uphold the rights of individuals to access their own personal data, whether on computer or in a paper file.
It has a role in enforcing the law relating to unsolicited direct marketing involving the use of electronic communications (spam). The office is also involved in developing a harmonised approach to data protection throughout the EU.
As part of the Government's programme of decentralisation of state services, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is scheduled to move from Dublin to Portarlington in the course of 2007. This project will be one of the priorities for Mr Hawkes in his new role.