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Privacy

Who are we and why do we require your information?

Louth County Council seeks to promote the economic, social and cultural development of Louth and in doing so contribute significantly to improving the quality of life of the people of County Louth.  

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The delivery of high quality services, tailored to meet the needs of all our customers, remains one of Louth County Council’s core objectives and is included in our Corporate Plan. This quality service includes not only the level and quality of service given to our customers, but also the quality of our decision-making processes, the efficiency and effectiveness of our corporate operations, standard of our facilities and our ability to adapt in an ever-changing environment.

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Louth County Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. Louth County Council is a data controller and a data processor. This Privacy Notice explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.

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Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) makes sure we respect your rights and follow the law. If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Officer at Dataprotection@louthcoco.ie.

 

Why do we have a privacy notice?

Louth County Council has created this privacy notice in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy and to assure you that in all your dealings with Louth County Council that we will ensure the security of the data you provide to us.

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Louth County Council creates, collects and processes a significant amount of personal data in various multiple formats on a daily basis.

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The personal data you may be required to supply to us is:

  • Obtained lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

  • Obtained for only specified, explicit and legitimate purposes..

  • Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose for which it was obtained.

  • Recorded, stored accurately and securely and where necessary kept up to date.

  • Kept only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was obtained.

  • Kept in a form which permits identification of the data subject.

  • Processed only in a manner that ensures the appropriate security of personal data including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing.

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What is personal data/information?

Personal data is any information that can identify and individual person. This includes a name, an ID number, postal address, images or anything related to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of a person.

Certain personal data has been identified as in a “special category”.

This includes:

  • Sexuality and sexual health

  • Religious beliefs

  • Ethnicity

  • Physical or mental health

  • Trade union membership

  • Political opinion

  • Genetic/biometric data

  • Criminal history

What personal data do we need?

The types of personal data you may be asked to supply can be categorised as follows:

  • Contact details to allow for efficient communication.

  • Details of your personal circumstances which you are required by law to supply as part of your application for a service offered by Louth County Council.

  • Your own financial details which you are required by law to supply as part of your application for a service offered by Louth County Council.

 

Why do we need your personal data?

We need your personal data to:

  • Fulfill our legal obligations as a local authority to provide a service and support to you.

  • Investigate complaints received about our services.

  • Keep track of spending by Louth County Council.

  • Comply with Employment Law.

  • Comply with Health and Safety Law.

 

We only use what we need!

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Where we can, we will only collect and use personal information if we need it to deliver a service or meet a requirement. If we don’t need personal information we won’t ask you for it, and even if we already have your information from something else we will only use it in cases where we have specifically asked for it - you will remain anonymous in all other instances.

We will not sell your personal information to any other organisation or person. We are legally obliged to make the Edited Electoral Register available which contains the names of individuals who have opted-in to be listed when registering for the Electoral Register.

Your Data Protection Rights

You have the right to request access to personal data held about you, obtain confirmation as to whether data concerning you exists, be informed of the content and source of data and check its accuracy.

In addition if the data held by us is found to be inaccurate you have the right to change, remove, block or object to the use of personal data held by Louth County Council.

In certain circumstances blocking access to data may delay or remove access to a service where the data is required by law or for essential purposes related to the delivery of a service to you. Please note that to help protect your privacy we take steps to verify your identity before granting access to personal data.

 

As an individual whose personal data is processed by Louth County Council you have the following rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used by us:

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1.       The Right to be Informed

       This privacy notice provides you with some of the high level information required.

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2.       The Right to Access Information

       You have the right to ask for all the data/information we have about you and the services you receive from us. When we receive a request from you we must give you access to everything we have recorded on you within one calendar month.

If you wish to make a request to view your records please e-mail dataprotection@louthcoco.ie. However, we cannot let you see any parts of your record which contain:

Confidential information about other people or if a data professional thinks it will cause serious harm to you or someone else’s physical or mental wellbeing or

if we think that giving you the information may stop us from preventing or detecting a crime.

 

3.       The Right to Rectification

If your personal data is inaccurate we will correct it without undue delay. Please let us know what the correct information is so we can correct it. If the information we hold on you is incomplete please provide is with the supplementary information so we can complete the information we hold.

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4.       The Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten)

In some circumstances you can ask for your personal data/information to be deleted, for example:

  • Where your personal data/information is no longer needed for the reason why it was collected in the first place.

  • Where you have removed your consent for us to use your information (where there is no other legal reason for us to use it).

  • Where there is no legal reason for the use of your information.

  • Where deleting the information is a legal requirement.

  • Where your personal information has been shared with others, we’ll do what we can to make sure those using your personal information comply with your request for erasure.

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Please note we can’t delete your information where:

  • We are required to have it by law.

  • It is used for freedom of expression.

  • It is used for public health purposes.

  • It is necessary for legal claims.

 

5.       The Right to data portability

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format.

However, this only applies if we are using your personal data with consent (not if we are required by law), if the processing is carried out by automated means, or where processing is conducted on the basis of a contract between us.

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6.       The right to object to the processing of personal data

You have the right to object to certain types of processing of your personal data where it is done in the public interest or under official authority. This is the processing that we do in the Local Authority.

However, if this request is approved this may cause delays or prevent us from delivering that service.

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7.       The right of restriction.

You have the right to ask us to stop or restrict what we use your personal data for.

When data is restricted it cannot be used other than to securely store the data and with your consent to handle legal claims and protect others or where it is in the public interest.

Where possible we will seek to comply with your request but we may need to hold or use information because we are required by law.

 

Who do we share your information with?

 

We use a range of organisations to either store personal information or help deliver our services to you. Where we have these arrangements there is always an agreement in place to make sure that the organisation complies with Data Protection law. We will often complete a data privacy impact assessment (DPIA) before we share personal information to make sure we protect your privacy and comply with the law.

Sometimes we have a legal duty to provide personal information to other organisations.

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This includes:

  • The Courts

  • An Garda Siochána

  • Garda Ombudsman

  • Revenue

  • Right of complaint to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner

 

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the response you received from Louth County Council in relation to your request then you are entitled to make a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner who may investigate the matter for you.

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The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner’s website is www.dataprotection.ie or you can contact their office at:

Lo Call Number: 1890 252 231

E-mail: info@dataprotection.ie

Postal Address:  Office of the Data Protection Commissioner

Canal House , Station Road, Portarlington, Co. Laois R32 AP23.

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