TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN says the public “shouldn’t share their location data” and that the government will “examine” existing legislation.

It follows an investigation by RTÉ Prime Time which found that data showing the specific movement of tens of thousands of smartphones in Ireland is available to buy.

A large sample which contained the movement of 64,000 phones over a two-week period earlier this year was given to RTÉ Prime Time for free after it posed as founders of a newly-established data analytics and marketing firm.

Some individual phones in the data could be tracked back to specific residential addresses after entering high-security prisons, military bases, and Leinster House.

The seller claimed that a privacy breach does not occur because the owner of the phone is not identified, and noted that smartphone owners would have given permission for the sale of the location data through the terms and conditions of installed apps.

From the data, RTÉ Prime Time was able to quickly identify the home addresses of specific individuals, including someone who works in Leinster House in the parliamentary office of government TD Barry Ward.

Ward has called on the government to put in place legislation to “protect app users from unknowingly giving consent for their data to be used by a third party to the extent that it allows those third parties to identify and track them.”

Speaking to reporters today, Martin cautioned that “people shouldn’t share their location data”.

He said people often download apps “in a hurry” and don’t generally “read all the terms and conditions and tend to bypass those”.

“We do need to examine it because there are security implications in terms of tracking of movement, particularly people who may be vulnerable and exposed on security grounds,” said Martin.

He added that there could be a legal issue “in terms of the dividing line between GDPR and anonymous location identification”.

Martin said the government will “engage with the Data Protection Commission”.

The Data Protection Commission told RTÉ Prime Time that “information about an individual’s location can pose a serious risk to their security and wellbeing.”

A spokesperson added: “We are currently working to identify the data broker in question and if they are headquartered in Ireland, we will take action ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Martin said the government will “examine” legislation and “look at all options in that regard”.

“In the modern era, the harnessing of data is one of the key economic drivers,” said Martin.

“People, when they’re browsing, are very often asked if they accept this or whatever, and they’re anxious to use it so they press whatever.

“Governments generally have to always take a vigilant approach to protecting citizens and having a level and fair playing field to protect people.”

Earlier this week, Labour leader Ivana Bacik said she was concerned about a “lack of enforcement action” by the Data Protection Commission.

Bacik said that the Data Protection Commissioner “appears to have been aware of this illegal behaviour for some years, but it appears to have done nothing about it”.

While Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Dáil that the Commission had only become aware of this practice when contacted by Prime Time, Bacik said this “does not tally with what the whistleblower has said”.

“There is now a concern as to who in the DPC knew about this, when, and why no actions were taken,” said Bacik.

“Despite having the necessary legislation in place, the DPC has refused to take effective action to protect people, their data and their privacy.”