Fine Gael is committed to protecting your privacy online. Visitors can use most of the features of this website without being personally identified. We closely monitor the site’s activity in order to provide a better service to the online user. We keep aggregated site statistics (such as the number of visitors to the site) to monitor the website’s performance. This includes the retention of IP addresses within our site visitor logs.

We do not disclose information that may identify individuals, companies or candidates, unless we have your permission to do so. We use Cookies to help us gather some useful information on your use of this website. A “cookie” is a small file sent to your browser by our web server, which enables your computer to access information on our Site in a faster and more efficient manner. This mechanism provides us with information such as the volume of repeat visits, the source of site visits, and the most popular browsers being used by visitors.

We also use cookies which are necessary in order to provide the services which you sign up for. You were advised of this when you first visited the site. These are called ‘session cookies’, and will terminate at the end of your site visit.

You can also change the settings on your browser at any time to refuse all cookies. However, you should note that disabling cookies may result in some parts of the site not working efficiently, slower downloads, etc.

Where you contact Fine Gael, we will keep a record of your personal details and comments/enquiry until your enquiry has been satisfactorily resolved.

  • Fine Gael will only share your details and views with others in order to resolve your enquiry.
  • Fine Gael may contact members, using the details provided, in order to administer their membership, and to keep them informed about matters which are of interest to members of the Fine Gael organisation. Fine Gael may retain members’ personal information for these purposes, for the duration of their membership. (See further details below.)
  • Fine Gael does not collect any unique information about you (such as your name, email address, etc.) except when you knowingly choose to provide such information as in the case of Fine Gael forms, such as those found in the ‘Get Involved’ section of our website.
  • Fine Gael may contact members of the public, using details provided through our forms in order to keep them informed about matters which are of interest to them.
  • Fine Gael reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy. Please check the terms of the Policy from time to time to be aware of such changes.

If you have any questions in relation to this Policy, please contact the Party office at privacy@finegael.ie.

Opt-in and Opt-out:

Fine Gael operates a strict “opt-in” policy for individuals. That means we will not send you any information unless you have requested to receive e-mail/text/social media message updates from us.

If you (whether an individual or corporate supporter) wish to be removed from our direct marketing list and do not wish to receive any further information from us (opt-out) you can inform us of this by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of each e-mail communication you receive from us. Once this information is received we will immediately remove you from our direct marketing database.

Members

By registering as a Member of Fine Gael, each person understands that the Party will enter details of members on its membership database. Members understand, and accept that, from time to time, the Party may contact members, using the details provided, in order to administer their membership, and to keep them informed about matters which are of interest to members of the organisation. Fine Gael may retain members’ personal information for these purposes. The Party may use members’ contact details to send notifications and updates on matters of interest to Members, including, among other things: Party meetings, events, Superdraw and fundraising events, campaigns and activities at Branch, District, Constituency, Regional or National level; Regional or National Conferences; Ard Fheiseanna; Leadership Election; Updates on organisational matters including elections campaigns (nominated candidates may use the contact details you have provided to seek your support ahead of a convention); Updates from the Party on Party positioning, policy or topical political issues; Contact from the Party, to verify/update contact details. The Party will also use the information to issue a Membership Card to each Member individually. Fine Gael may engage third party consultants to advise us from time to time with regard to fundraising, conceptual development, guidance and digital marketing. Any third parties will be subject to a Data Processing Agreement and/or SCC agreements.

We reserve the right under Section 18 of our Constitution & Rules to retain the data of any member who has withdrawn to identify individuals who have previously been a member but have withdrawn their membership.

Section 18 of our Constitution & Rules:

“An application from a person who has formerly been a member of Fine Gael but who has been expelled or who has resigned from the Party shall not be considered without the approval in writing of the Executive Council.”

We reserve the right to retain the data of any individuals who have not renewed their membership for a period of ten years to allow a returning member to keep their membership history intact.

Members accept the principles of the Party and agree to abide by the Construction & Rules of Fine Gael.

Events held by Fine Gael using Eventbrite

Fine Gael may use the services of Eventbrite from time to time. Guests who register for events using this platform should note that personal data required for event registration will be stored outside of the EU, under Standard Contractual Clauses, issued pursuant to Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/914 of 4 June 2021 on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to third countries pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and will be retained for a period of 3 months.

Donations to Fine Gael

In line with Revenue regulations and the Electoral Act, records of donations and donors are retained for six years plus the current year. Full details regarding Political Donations can be found by visiting the Standards in Public Office Commission’s (SIPO) website here: Donations | Guidelines & Information | SIPO.ie.

Electoral & Marked Registers

Fine Gael acquire these registers for the purpose of statistical analysis in the context of political research for electoral campaigns and for reference, research and planning purposes. The retention period of these registers is two electoral cycles.

Security of Data

Fine Gael takes seriously its security obligations in respect of your personal data under the Irish Data Protection legislation in order to prevent unauthorised access to, or alteration or destruction of personal data in our possession.

Right of Access

Where you have provided us with your personal data you have a right to be given a copy of your personal data in accordance with your rights under the Data Protection Act 2018, subject to certain exceptions.  To request a copy of your personal data please download our Subject Access Request Form for completion before sending it to: The Data Protection Officer, Fine Gael HQ, 51 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2 or by email to dataprotection@finegael.com. Please note the following important requirements:

We reserve the right not to process an access request that is not accompanied by adequate proof of identification and we do not accept access requests via telephone or text message.

Right of Rectification or Erasure

If we hold incorrect information about you which was originally submitted by you through this Site, you have the right to have the data amended. You also have the right, with certain exemptions, to have any information you have sent to us via this Site erased.

To request your right to rectification and/or erasure please send your request in writing to:

The Data Protection Officer, Fine Gael HQ, 51 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2.

 

This request must be accompanied by:

  • Proof of your name and address; and
  • A description of the specific personal data you wish to have rectified.

 

If you request erasure of your personal data all your data will be erased subject to the following important notice:

  • We are not required to rectify or erase your data where to do so would prevent you from meeting your contractual obligations to us or where we are required to process (including retaining) your personal data for a lawful purpose in accordance with the Data Protection legislation.

 

Right to Lodge a Complaint with the Supervisory Authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint to the Data Protection Commission under Article 13.2 of the GDPR. The Data Protection Commission can be contacted on 01 7650100 / 1800 437 737 – www.dataprotection.ie

 

Fine Gael trusts that you appreciate that we respect and value your right to privacy, and that our honesty and integrity shall mean that you will continue to trust us with your personal data, knowing that we will not use it for any inappropriate purpose.


COOKIE POLICY

Fine Gael is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy.  This Cookie Policy sets out how Fine Gael uses and protects any information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, when you use our website.

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer by websites or sometimes by emails. They provide useful information to companies and help in a number of ways.

For you, it means your site visit runs more efficiently and that you can save time by not having to re-enter your details each time you visit. The cookies also make sure you receive the most relevant information from our site.

For us, cookies help us to analyse how our customers interact with our sites so we can make improvements.

We use three types of cookies on our websites

  • Session cookies that are required for your use of the site, and are deleted after each visit.
  • Persistent cookies that remain in place across multiple visits to our sites.
  • Third party cookies that are used by our approved service partners.

Some of these cookies are essential to your visit to our site, and some are non-essential.


Essential cookies

Certain cookies are necessary in order for you to use our websites. These are used ‘in-session’ each time you visit and then expire when you leave the site. You can delete these session cookies via your browser, if you wish to, but please note that this will restrict the functions that you will able to carry out on our website. Here’s a list of essential cookies and how we use them:


Session cookies

These enable you to carry out some essential functions on our sites, such as maintaining log-in details for the session or to complete a transaction. They also help by minimising the need to transfer information across the internet. They are not stored on your computer and they expire when you terminate your browser session.


Tracking cookies

These cookies enable us to recognise repeat visitors to the site. By matching an anonymous, randomly generated identifier, we’re able to record specific browsing information such as how you arrive at the site, the pages you view, options you select, and the path you take through the site. By monitoring this information we are able to make improvements to our site.

Some cookies are non-essential

These cookies are usually supplied by our business partners and help us to filter out irrelevant messages or pop-ups and to make sure that we only send you information that’s interesting and relevant to you. We also use some non-essential cookies for analytical purposes. Here’s a list of non-essential cookies and how they’re used: addthis.com cookies

Provided by our bookmarking supplier, these cookies enable you to easily bookmark selected pages.

Google Analytics

This is a web analytics service provided by Google enabling us to recognise repeat visitors to the site. By matching an anonymous, randomly generated identifier, we’re able to record specific browsing information such as how you arrive at the site, the pages you view, options you select, and the path you take through the site. By monitoring this information we’re able to make improvements to our sites. Google also reserve the rights to the data collected. We use the following cookies on our web-site:

__utma: This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to our site

__utmb, __utmc and __utmz: These cookies record information about how the page was reached (for example via a search engine result or a direct link).

BC_BANDWIDTH – measures the bandwidth and latency of your network connection to the  server.

You can accept or block cookies

You can block any cookies from our website by modifying your browser settings.

Please note that, by disabling or blocking certain cookies, you may impact on your visitor experience to our web-site.

Please note also that, if you share this computer with other users, accepting or rejecting the use of cookies will affect all other users of that computer.