SOME 70 staff in the Department of Social and Family Affairs have been disciplined for inappropriately accessing personal records of others in the past five years, according to figures received by The Irish Times.
Of those, 69 related to the personal records of EuroMillions lottery winner Dolores McNamara. The Department of Social and Family Affairs said it had issued warning letters to 69 people in connection with that case in 2006.
After the Limerick woman won €115 million in the EuroMillions lottery in 2005, personal information such as her benefits and tax details were published in some newspapers.
Investigations were conducted by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners, and it was discovered that dozens of curious civil servants had looked up her personal records even though they had no work-related reason for doing so.
It was later reported that 28 Revenue staff received warning letters about their actions.
No employee at the Department of Social and Family Affairs was disciplined for committing such acts in 2005 and 2007, but last year one staff member was disciplined.
This employee, based outside Dublin, had inappropriately accessed the personal records of one person, the spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Family Affairs said.
The punishment was greater than that sustained by employees who had looked at Ms McNamara’s file.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Family Affairs said staff were regularly reminded of the policies and guidelines in relation to accessing personal data.
