Department of Social Protection


The Department of Social Protection is a department of the Government of Ireland, tasked with administering Ireland's welfare system. It oversees the provision of income support and other social services. It is led by the Minister for Social Protection.

Departmental team

The official headquarters and ministerial offices of the department are in Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Store Street, Dublin. The departmental team consists of the following:
In carrying out its mandate the department undertakes a variety of functions including:
The department formulates appropriate social protection policies and administers and manages the delivery of statutory and non-statutory schemes and services. It is responsible for the delivery of a range of social insurance and social assistance schemes including provision for unemployment, illness, maternity, caring, widowhood, retirement and old age. Payments are made to nearly 950,000 people each week with over 1.5 million people directly benefiting from those payments. The budget spend in 2002 was €9.52 billion. In 2010 it will be in excess of 13.59 billion
Payments are generally divided into three groups:
In August 2019, the Data Protection Commissioner found the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection's processing of personal data during the issuing of Public Services Cards for use in transactions between a person and a public body other than the department itself to be illegal.
The commission also found that the blanket and indefinite retention of documents and information provided by people applying for a Public Services Card violate data protection law. The Data Protection Commission has given the department three weeks to stop all processing of personal data where a PSC is being issued solely for the purpose of a transaction between a member of the public and a public body. Meaning that the data held on more than three million card holders must now be deleted

Agencies

The department was created by the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1946 as the Department of Social Welfare. This took effect in 1947 with James Ryan as the first Minister.

Alteration of name and transfer of functions