Privacy Policy
Housing Assistance Payments Website.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the Government Department responsible for housing and water, for physical and spatial planning, for local government, for weather forecasting and for built and natural heritage.
The Department is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy statement explains how the Department, as the Data Controller, will process the personal data provided to it in respect of the www.hap.ie website; how that information will be used, and what rights you may exercise in relation to your personal data.
Categories of data
The Department processes the following personal data in respect of providing you with the service. We collect data in the following ways:
- Non-personally identifiable information (that could be combined to potentially become personally identifiable information) such as:
- IP Address
- Browser Type
- Device Type
- Personally identifiable information such as:
- Your name
- Email Address
- Any other information you choose to submit to us (i.e. through a contact form)
Source of the personal data
Your personal data was provided to the Department solely by you and your computer for the purposes outlined below.
Purposes of the processing
Your IP address is used to facilitate the transmission of information to your computer. In and of itself cannot be used to uniquely identify you. Your IP address is stored via the host software and/or applications running on that software typically in logging functions to facilitate error tracing and identify security issues.
Your browser type and device type and other non-personally identifiable information (analytical data) are used to help facilitate decision making on how we can improve our services to you.
The Department will use the information provided in order to provide the information you have requested on this site. The Department will not process your personal data for any purpose other than that for which it was collected. The Department reserves the right to combine non personally-identifiable information to form information that could be used to as specified in “Lawfulness of Processing”.
Profiling
The Department will not use any personal data collected from you in respect of www.hap.ie for automated decision-making, or for profiling purposes.
Lawfulness of processing
The processing of your personal data is lawful under Article 6 Paragraph 1(a) of EU General Data Protection Regulation, www.hap.ie only collects personally identifiable information with your explicit consent. Explicit consent is given when accepting specific cookie categories or filling a form with information you volunteer.
The processing of your personal data is lawful under Article 6 Paragraph 1(d), www.hap.ie only collects personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information where processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person.
Security of your personal data
The Department implements appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information from unauthorised access. However, despite these efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse. In the event that your personal data is compromised as a result of a breach of security, the Department’s Breach Management policy and procedures will be implemented.
Recipients of the data
Personal data may be exchanged with other Government Departments, local authorities, agencies under the aegis of the Department, or other public bodies, in certain circumstances where this is provided for by law.
Cross-border Data Transfers
The Department will not transfer personal data collected in respect of www.hap.ie to any country or international organisation outside the EU/EEA.
How long will your data be kept?
The Department will only retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and processed.
In line with legislative and business requirements, the data retention period for your personal data, in this instance, is in line with broader Departmental Policy.
Your rights
The Department’s Data Protection Policy, which sets out how we will use your personal data, as well as providing information regarding your rights as a data subject (including details regarding right of access, right to rectification, right to erasure, right to restriction of processing, right to object), is available on our website. The policy is also available in hard copy upon request. If you consider that your rights have been infringed, you have the right to complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.ie), and you have the right to seek a judicial remedy.
Contacting Us
If you require further information, or wish to access your personal data, please contact the Department’s Data Protection Officer, details below:
Data Protection Officer Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Newtown Road Wexford data.protection@housing.gov.ie
Additional Resources
Document Dated: 21 May 2021