Know Your Rights and Have Your Say! Stream Two of the DPC’s Public Consultation on the Processing of Children’s Personal Data and the Rights of Children as Data Subjects under the GDPR

28th January 2019

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched the second stream of its public consultation on the processing of children’s personal data and the rights of children as data subjects under the GDPR. This stream of the consultation, in which the DPC is supported by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO), seeks to involve children and young people directly in the classroom. 

The DPC has created a pack of consultation materials, including a specially created lesson plan on personal data and data protection rights in the context of social media. Invitations to take part in the consultation using these materials are being sent via email to all schools and Youthreach centres in the country over the course of this week. The materials are available for download below.

These consultation materials aim to help teachers to explore with their students the concept of personal data and data protection rights in a social media context. These materials have been developed, with the support of the OCO, for use in the classroom with children and young people aged eight and above, and were tested by the DPC with different age groups via a series of pilot workshops that were facilitated by the OCO in October 2018.

Using these materials, teachers can enable their students to contribute to the DPC’s public consultation by offering them the opportunity to give their opinions on key issues. To do this, the DPC is providing teachers with a set of six PDF feedback posters. Each feedback poster contains one question, and we would ask that teachers complete and submit only one set of feedback posters per class, recording the responses of the class group as a whole. The views of students will be central to the DPC’s formulation of guidance on issues concerning data protection and children.

The closing date for submissions for this stream of the consultation has been extended to Friday 12th April 2019. If you have any questions at all, please contact childrensconsultation@dataprotection.ie. We look forward to receiving your submission!

Children's Consultation poster

Children's Consultation schools pack

Lesson plan slides

The first stream of this consultation aimed at adult stakeholders was launched in December 2018 and the closing date has been extended to Friday 5 April 2019. If you would like to make a written submission to the 1st stream of this consultation, please see here for details.