Privacy & Data Protection

Privacy & Data Protection

Data protection aims to regulate the collection, processing, keeping, disposal and disclosure of personal data. The current legislative framework governing this area is contained in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into effect in every member state across the European Union on 25^th May 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018 which gives further effect to this Regulation.

This legislative framework defines personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. It applies to personal data held in physical and electronic format by private and public organisations. It imposes responsibilities on those who control personal data (controllers) and those who process personal data (processors). It also confers rights on individuals in relation to their own personal data (data subjects).

GDPR Principles

The following principles underpin all of Mayo County Council’s data protection processes, practices and procedures:

• Lawfulness, Fairness and Transparency: Mayo County Council will ensure that the personal data it collects from data subjects is obtained lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
• Purpose Limitation: It will clearly communicate to data subjects the purposes for obtaining their personal data and take measures to ensure that the processing of their personal data is limited to the purposes for which it was obtained.
• Data Minimisation: It will put in place measures to ensure that the personal data held by it is proportionate for the specified purpose that it was obtained.
• Accuracy: It will implement measures to ensure that errors in personal data are identified, reported and corrected in as timely a manner as possible.
• Storage Limitation: It will retain personal data for no longer than is necessary.
• Integrity & Confidentiality. It will maintain the highest standards of technical and organisational security measures to protect personal data.
• Accountability: It will actively monitor and govern the management of all personal data that it controls.

Data Subject Rights

Data subjects have the following rights:

• The right to be informed;
• The right of access;
• Right to the rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• The right to erasure (also known as the ‘right to be forgotten’) of personal data;
• The right to portability;
• The right to object to the processing of personal data;
• The right of restriction to the processing of personal data;
• Rights in relation to automated decision making, including profiling.

Privacy Statements

In order to maximise transparency and give effect to the right of data subjects to be informed Mayo County Council has developed a Corporate Privacy Notice. The purpose of this corporate statement is to describe, in simple terms, the personal data that Mayo County Council collects from data subjects, why it needs the personal data, how it uses the personal data and how data subjects can interact with the County Council regarding their personal data.

Data Breaches

Mayo County Council has implemented a range of technical and organisational security measures in order to safeguard the personal data under its control. However, on rare occasions, a breach of data security may occur for reasons such as accidental disclosure, equipment failure, loss or theft. It is the policy of Mayo County Council to ensure that in the event of a personal data breach occurring that appropriate measures exist to facilitate:

• The identification of personal data breaches and their consequences;
• The notification of personal data breaches to the Data Protection Commission and data subjects;
• Limiting and / or remedying the impact of personal data breaches;
• Implementing controls to prevent a reoccurrence of the personal data breach. 
• The focus of such measures shall be on protecting the rights and interests of data subjects. 

Mayo County Council has developed a Personal Data Breach Policy to facilitate it to respond appropriately in the event of a personal data breach occurring.

Cookies

What is a Cookie?

Cookies (web cookies, internet cookies, browser cookies) are small pieces of data (text file) created by a web browser while the user is browsing a website. The visiting website asks the browser to store information such as language preferences etc.

Cookies that are set by us are called first party cookies. Third party cookies are cookies which are from a domain other than the one you are visiting. 

Our Use of Cookies:

The Mayo County Council Website uses Google Analytics to report on how users use the website.

Google Analytics uses ‘cookies’ to tracks every time a user visits a webpage; the tracking code will collect anonymous information about how that user interacted with the page.

The information generated by the cookie (Including IP address) is transmitted to Google. Mayo County Council then uses this information to report on website use and activity.

Mayo County Council will not (and will not allow any third party to) use the statistical analytics tool (Google Analytics) to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to Mayo.ie. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source as part of our use of the Google statistical analytics tool. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Neither Mayo County Council nor Google will link, or seek to link, an IP address with the identity of a computer user.

Mayo County Council uses cookies to allow accessibility options on the site to function correctly i.e. increasing/decreasing text size or changing the contrast.

Cookie List:

Performance Cookies:

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site and will not be able to monitor its performance.

Strictly Necessary / Essential Cookies:

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Functional Cookies:

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, then some or all of these services may not function properly.

Further Information

Further information and advice on Mayo County Council related data protection matters can be obtained from its Data Protection Officer. Contact details are as follows: 

E-mail: dataprotection@Mayococo.ie

Website: www.mayo.ie

Postal Address: Data Protection Officer, The Annex, Mayo County Council, Áras an Chontae, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.