The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched an inquiry into Children's Health Ireland (CHI) over the physical safety and security of children's personal health records at the CHI facility on the Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) campus.
It is understood a number of children's patient records were stored in a room at that facility that was not locked and could easily be accessed by anyone in the building.
The DPC said it first became aware of potential issues at the site "from a number of different sources of information".
The information included multiple protected disclosures received by the DPC from CHI employees, as well as a breach notification submitted to it by CHI.
After the Commission reviewed this information it conducted an unannounced site inspection on 16 July, which RTÉ News understands confirmed data protection issues in relation to patient records at the CHI facility and that they had been ongoing for some time.
It is understood hundreds of children's patient records are held in this room at any one time, but that access to the area is not sufficiently restricted.
According to the DPC, its inquiry will focus on CHI's compliance with its GDPR obligations, in particular relating to the security of personal data and the processes CHI has in place for managing physical records at CHI (Tallaght).
Such DPC investigations can take up to a year or more to complete, however, it is expected this inquiry could be concluded much quicker.
CHI has said it is co-operating fully with the DPC investigation.
In a statement, it added that its "priority is the protection of patient information and ensuring all personal data is handled in line with our legal obligations".
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