A private investigator has been fined €5,000 after being convicted of two charges for breaching Data Protection Laws.
Michael Gaynor, of Beatty Grove, Celbridge in Co Kildare was charged with 72 counts of breaching the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 for accessing personal information held by the ESB and the Gardaí.
In all cases, the information was passed on by Mr Gaynor, a former Garda, to various Credit Unions.
Mr Gaynor used his garda contacts to access information from a serving Garda to access personal information held on the Pulse system.
The Data Protection Commissioner has welcomed the outcome of the trial, but says it is disappointed by a number of failures on the part of Credit Unions.