The Data Protection Commissioner has found that the Minister for Justice broke data protection law by disclosing personal information about the independent TD Mick Wallace.
The finding relates to comments made by the minister during a live TV discussion with Deputy Wallace last May.
Mick Wallace made the complaint to the commissioner, Billy Hawkes, after Minister Alan Shatter's comments on RTÉ's 'Prime Time' on May 16 last year.
The minister revealed that Mick Wallace had been the beneficiary of Garda discretion when he was stopped for using his mobile phone while driving at the Five Lamps in Dublin a year earlier.
The minister later explained that he had been given the information by the then-Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, and that Mr Callinan had a duty to keep him informed.
In his ruling this evening Billy Hawkes says Martin Callinan did not breach Data Protection Law by sharing that information with Alan Shatter - but that Alan Shatter did act in breach of the law by then disclosing it on TV.
Specifically, the finding is that the minister processed the information relating to Deputy Wallace "in a manner incompatable with the purpose for which it was obtained".
The finding is not an indication of a criminal offence,
Minister Shatter has 21 days to appeal the finding - while Mick Wallace may now consider the prospect of seeking civil damages against the Minister over his actions.
