Helen Dixon will move to ComReg after leaving the Data Protection Commission

Helen Dixon will move from the Data Protection Commission to ComReg, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan has confirmed.

The Minister announced the appointment of Helen Dixon as a Commissioner to the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), following an open competition run by the Public Appointments Service on Thursday, a day after she confirmed she’ll stand down as Data Protection Commissioner in February.

“Helen Dixon will bring considerable national and international experience to this role, particularly in an evolving regulatory and legal framework where telecoms and postal sectors have seen rapidly accelerated digitalisation. ComReg is facing into a challenging period and this appointment brings the Commission to its full complement of three Commissioners,” the Minister said.

Helen Dixon spent the first ten years of her career in the IT industry, followed by a stint as Irish Registrar of Companies, where she led regulatory enforcement of compliance with the filing provisions of the Companies Acts.

She was appointed as Data Protection Commissioner for Ireland in 2014 and reappointed for a second five year term in 2019.

On Wednesday Helen Dixon announced she planned to stand down from the DPC role in February, seven months before her second five year term in the role is due to end.

Recruitment was already underway for two additional Commissioners for what was to be an expanded agency next year and as part of a that a panel including candidates to replace Helen Dixon is being put in place. Its understood three new commissioners will now be appointed.

In her 10 years in the role Helen Dixon has overseen major developments including implementation of the general data privacy regulation (GDPR) which put her in the forefront of policing the European arms of numerous tech giants headquartered in Ireland.

She’s levied massive fines on some companies including Meta and TikTok as well as policing data protection domestically but faced criticism from campaigners and some European peers for what some have regarded as a relatively soft regulatory approach.

Reporting On:www.independent.ie