RTÉ was warned that complaints about releasing personal information from TV and radio stars were inevitable if they went ahead with a plan to publish a register of external activities.
The Data Protection Commission also threatened the broadcaster with enforcement in the event they did not protect the personal data of staff and contractors.
In the wake of the RTÉ spending controversy, the broadcaster had wanted to make available a list of when employees had done external work, sometimes involving payment of significant fees.
However, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) put a spanner in the works saying the plans represented a “serious interference with the fundamental rights to respect for private life” under law.
An email to RTÉ in June said: “Please note that the DPC has also been made aware that a number of individuals are very concerned regarding the legal basis for processing [their personal data].
“It is likely that these concerns will be escalated as complaints to the DPC if the processing is to proceed.”
The commission also said they had been in touch with the Department of Tourism and Culture over their concerns that RTÉ had decided “not to implement our recommendation”.
The Data Protection Commission warned too they would not be afraid to use their powers to ensure the protection of individual data protection rights.
The list that was eventually published had only anonymised information including that one person had earned over €10,000 outside of RTÉ.