Privacy Policy

Introduction

The Housing Agency regard your privacy and the handling of your personal data to be of the utmost importance. This Privacy Notice details how we collect, use and securely store any personal data submitted to us through the use of our website. There is also an explanation of the various rights you can exercise as a data subject.

The scope of this Privacy Notice applies to localauthorityhomeloan.ie

Who We Are

The Housing Agency is a government body working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), Local Authorities (LAs) and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in the delivery of housing and housing services. The Housing Agency is also a data processor assisting the DHLGH and LAs in rendering the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme.

We are a non-departmental body under the aegis of the DHLGH. We work closely with our colleagues in the DHLGH to ensure and support the delivery of ministerial policy objectives. We are subject to all Data Protection Regulations and Legislation, and we work to act in a fully accountable and transparent manner.

For the purposes of Data Protection Legislation, The Housing Agency is the Data Processor with respect to the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme. This means that the Housing Agency, only on the instructions and directions of the DHLGH and LAs, processes your Personal data for the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme.

Registered Office Address

Housing Agency, 53 Mount Street Upper, Dublin 2, Ireland, D02 KT73

Data Protection Officer (DPO)

The Housing Agency has duly appointed Trilateral Research Limited as the Data Protection Officer (DPO). If you need to contact the Housing Agency DPO directly, you can do so by phone or email.

Tel: +353 1 657 1978
Email: dpo@housingagency.ie

The DPO's registered office is: Trilateral Research Ltd, Marine Point (2nd Floor) Belview Port Waterford, X91 W0XW.

However, kindly be mindful of the fact that as the Housing Agency is a Data processor with respect to the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme, we will have to consult with the Data Controllers, i.e. the DHLGH and the LAs, as necessary.

Collection, Processing and Retention of Personal Data

Personal data is information associated with your name or personal identity or any such information that can directly or indirectly identify an individual. Some examples of personal data include:

In addition to the above, we also collect statistical and analytical information such as:

This website does not explicitly collect personal data about you, apart from information you willingly volunteer (for example, by emailing us or by filling out the contact form). Any information which you provide in this way is not made available to any third parties and is explicitly used to resolve queries, questions or concerns. However, it is our endeavour to only process personal data responsibly. Therefore, we request that you don't provide sensitive or financial information through the contact us form unless expressly sought by the Housing Agency staff.

Any personal information we collect will not be kept for any longer than it is necessary to provide the specific service. The length of the retention period depends on how long we need to process your data. In certain circumstances, we are legally obliged to retain personal information for longer, such as for accounting or regulatory purposes. In the circumstances mentioned above we will anonymize your data so that individuals are not identifiable.

Security and Sharing of Personal Data

The Housing Agency is committed to the protection of any personal data it processes; therefore we have implemented what we believe to be the most appropriate technical and administrative safeguards to prevent unauthorized access, use and disclosure of any personal data you submit to us.

We do not share your information with anyone outside the Housing Agency without your express permission to do so. Under no circumstances will your information be sold or passed on to third parties for the purposes of marketing, sales or other commercial uses without your prior express consent.

We may disclose only the required amount of personal data necessary to address and resolve your queries about the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme with the DHLGH and the LAs when unavoidable. We have in place data processing agreements for this purpose and therefore are following the Data Protection Legislation.

International Data Transfers

The Housing Agency will not transfer personal data collected in respect of any queries, questions, emails, or correspondences received through the contact us form to any country or international organization outside the EU/EEA.

Cookies

Cookies are a form of technology used in the delivery and analysis of a website. When you visit a website, small text files are placed on your device temporarily. Some cookies are functional and necessary. Other cookies are used for marketing and analysis purposes. You may submit your consent preferences using the banner, which will be visible when you visit our website. You can also visit our page to update your consent preferences. For more information on what cookies are used on this website, please visit the Cookies Policy.

Automated Decision Making

We do not engage in fully automated decision-making, which has significant or legal effects on you in the provision of our services.

Your Rights As an Individual

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018) you have a number of rights with regard to your personal data:

The right to know what personal data we process about you and how we use this personal data; The right to access your personal data; If your personal data is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have the data rectified without undue delay;

The erasure of your personal data or the right to be forgotten – the right to be forgotten is not an absolute right and will not apply where processing is necessary for:

The right to restrict processing, object to the processing as well as the right to data portability in certain circumstances.

If you have provided consent for the processing of your personal data, you have the right (in certain circumstances) to withdraw consent at any time which will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before your consent was withdrawn.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights in respect of processing carried out through this webpage i.e. through the contact us form or for the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme, please contact us. We will however, have to seek prior permission from the data controllers i.e. DHLGH and the LAs before responding to your request.

Nonetheless, we will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event within one month (subject to any extensions to which we are lawfully entitled). Any request to access personal data will be dealt with free of charge unless it is considered excessive in which case, we may charge a reasonable fee.

If you believe that we have not complied with the requirements of the GDPR or DPA 18, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Supervisory Authority at info@dataprotection.ie or by post to 21 Fitzwilliams Square, Dublin 2, D02 RD28.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this notice from time to time. If we make any changes, we will post those changes here and update the "Last Updated" date at the bottom of this Privacy Policy.