25th May 2018
New data protection legislation GDPR comes into force Europe-wide today, the 25th May, 2018.
INTO General Secretary, Sheila Nunan, said that the extensive requirements of the new legislation placed significant additional workload on Principal teachers.
She criticised the Department of Education and Skills for failing to provide comprehensive GDPR training and support to schools. “The GDPR legislation sets a high bar for compliance and it is unacceptable that support and training has not been put in place to assist Principals to meet the demands of the legislation. In addition to the absence of clear guidance on policy matters, no additional funding had been made available for the required safe storage of documents. ”
Ms Nunan called on the DES to recognise the challenges facing schools in fulfilling their
obligations and immediately provide the necessary support.