Privacy Statement

Who We Are

The Association of Higher Civil & Public Servants is a registered trade union affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The Association represents 3,000 + senior civil servants and managers in the commercial and non-commercial State sector. It also provides a negotiating and representation service to the Veterinary Officers Association representing professional veterinary personnel in the State Veterinary Service.

The data controller is AHCPS with our office at Fleming’s Hall, 12 Fleming’s Place, Dublin 4.

Contact: info@ahcps.ie

Intention of this Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement sets out how the AHCPS/the Association is committed to protecting and securing your personal data in accordance with Irish and EU data protection legislation, specifically the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU)2016/679) and Irish Data Protection Act 2018. This Statement is designed to ensure you are aware of the information we process about you including your rights and to describe to you how and what data we collect, and how and why we use your personal data. The Association has always had a strong emphasis on member privacy and continues to place a significant importance on the care and management of data pertaining to all members.

Purpose of Data Collection and Processing

For us to fulfil our collective responsibility as a representative Association, and our  responsibility to you as an individual member, this requires that we maintain securely and use from time-to-time basic personal information provided by our members. By being a member of the AHCPS you consent to the storage and use, as appropriate, of the information provided by you when the Association is fulfilling its objects set out under our Rules & Constitution specifically Rule 3(a)-(h).

These services and actions include the need:

• To process your application form received either online or by hardcopy.
• To register you as an AHCPS member.
• To process your subscriptions through your payroll or direct debit/standing order.
• To meet the objects and rules of the Association
• To contact you about membership and trade union activities.
• To represent you in individual and collective issues.
• To provide membership services and benefits.
• To comply with our legal obligations.
• To ballot you on local and national agreements, by paper or electronic means.
• To advise you of actions being taken on your behalf and/or on behalf of the wider membership in line with the objects of the Association set out under Rule 3(a)-(h).
• To encourage you to participate in activities and actions sanctioned by the Executive Committee.

 

Required by Law

We rely on various legal bases for processing your personal data that include:

• Performance of our membership contract with you.
• Compliance with our legal obligations.
• To support the legitimate interests of the Association.
• Keeping proper books and records.
• To manage and investigate any complaints.
• Update our identification database and contact e mail or address.
• Where you provide consent.

 

Restrictions on Sharing your Personal Data

We are committed to protecting and securing your personal data and we aim to ensure that all third-party providers are compliant with legislation and do not use your data for their own purposes unless they are ‘controllers in their own right’. We share your personal data with employer’s payroll departments when your subscription is paid by deduction at source. We may share your personal data from time to time with trusted third-party providers where required for business, legal and regulatory purposes. With your consent we may share your personal data from time to time with professional and legal bodies in the interest of representing you or with our services providers such as Cornmarket or Lyons Financial Services.

Retention and Deletion

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose(s) that it was collected, allowing for our legal and contractual obligations. Where possible we will identify the duration for retention and, where this is not possible, we will explain the criteria for determining retention periods. Once the relevant retention schedule has concluded we shall safely and securely delete or destroy all your personal data.

Website

You are not required to provide us with any personal information (or personal data) to use our Site or avail of our services. However, where you choose to give us personal data, or where your personal data is required to satisfy your requirements as part of your membership, we will treat your personal information in accordance with the European and Irish Data Protection legislation. By simply visiting our site, you do not disclose, nor do we collect, personal data about you. The information collected about your visit is limited to technical data such as:

• The Internet address (or IP address) of the device you used to access this Site.
• Whether you reached the Site using a search engine or if you clicked a link on another website.
• The type of web browser you used.
• The type of device you used to access the Internet.

We use this data solely for administrative and statistical purposes and to help us improve our Site. This technical data does not provide us with the personal data of visitors to our Site. Most websites use cookies to improve the visitor experience by enabling that website to ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit by using a ‘session cookie’ or for repeat visits by using a ‘persistent cookie’. Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting -‘first party cookies’ – or they may be set by other websites who run content on the page you are viewing involving ‘third party’ cookies. The Site uses cookies and, by continuing to use this Site we assume you agree to their use.

Providing us with your Personal Information & Consent

Please note that where you provide us with your personal information such as your name, e-mail address, work address, phone and/or other contact information), through a facility provided on this Site or directly to us by e-mail, by post or in person, you consent to us:

(i)  Processing and administering your personal data to perform all necessary actions to give effect to your request or instruction &

(ii) Retaining a record of such incoming and outgoing communications

Information in the communications we receive and send will not be disclosed to any third party without the permission of the sender unless otherwise in accordance with the relevant Data Protection Legislation. Please note that by using this Site you are giving us your consent to process your personal data as outlined in this Privacy Statement. Your consent is also provided to any successor or assignee of the Association and/or any of its businesses.

We inform all persons who submit their personal data to us of these conditions by this Privacy Statement.

The AHCPS operates, in compliance with the relevant Data Protection legislation, an “opt-out” policy. This means we will continue to contact you with news and information of our events and services until we are informed to the contrary. If you want to be excluded from our communication list for a particular you can inform us by mailing us at info@ahcps.ie. Once this information is received, we will remove you from our communication listing, but we will retain your membership listing and continue with the deduction of subs until you terminate your membership.

Security of Data

We take the data security obligations of your personal data under data protection legislation very seriously to prevent unauthorised access to, or alteration, loss, or destruction of your data in our possession. We have systems in place to enforce the necessary security and confidentiality of the data.

Data Access Request

You have the right to access and be given a copy of personal data you may have supplied to us, or that we hold in relation to your membership and correspondence. To exercise this right, you can either make your request in writing and send it to The Data Protection Officer, AHCPS, Fleming’s Hall, 12 Flemings Place, Dublin 4  or alternatively mail info@ahcps.ie

Request Content

You need to include with the request, proof of your name and address – up to date ID will suffice.

You should specify the personal data or information you wish to access, rectify, have erased or that you intend to object to or have transferred. A request will be dealt with as soon as possible and will take not more than one month to process. If a particular complexity is involved, or for some reason we receive a high number of data access requests at the same time, we may  require an additional period to process your request. In that situation we will communicate the reason for the delay to you and respond to your request within 3-months.

Additional Rights

Right to Correct and Update

You have the right to have inaccurate personal data corrected. If you discover we hold inaccurate personal data about you, you have the right to instruct us to correct that information.

Right to Delete and Be Forgotten

You may request that personal data you supplied to us be deleted if we do not have a legitimate reason for retaining the data and we will comply within one month.

Right to Restrict or Object

You are entitled to exercise your right to object to the processing of your personal data. In that situation, unless there are valid reasons that override your interests, rights, and freedom, we guarantee to promptly cease the processing of your information.

Right to Portability

You have the right to receive back from us the personal data you provided to the AHCPS when you joined or whenever you supplied the information. You are entitled to have your personal data transferred to another controller. Such information will be provided to you, or to the other controller indicated by you, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and we will do so within one month unless we require additional time to process your request.

In that situation, as already stated for similar situations, we will communicate the reason for the delay to you and respond to your request within a maximum of 3 months.

Costs

As prescribed by the law, you will not be charged for any of the action taken to guarantee the fulfilment of your data protection rights.

Importance of Providing Accurate Personal Data or Change in Contact Details

Failure to provide us with the required personal data, on request, may limit our ability to represent you. We rely on you to ensure the data we hold is accurate and up to date by communicating to us any changes to your personal information. Such updates can be made by emailing info@ahcps.ie

Profiling 

We do not use profiling or automated decision making on any of the personal data we hold.

Transmission to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

It is extremely unlikely that we will have reason to transfer your personal data to service providers outside the EEA. If that does happen, we will ensure the data is carefully managed in accordance with applicable data protection law.

How do you Exercise Your Rights?

If you have any questions or concerns about how we treat and use your personal data or would like to exercise any of your rights as outlined above, please contact our Data Protection Officer at info@ahcps.ie or by writing to us at: AHCPS Data Protection Officer, Flemings Hall, 12 Flemings Place Dublin 4.

We undertake to address any data related concerns or complaints from you.

If you need to direct a complaint or concern to the Data Protection Commission, the contact details are: Telephone: +353 57 8684800 Lo Call Number: 1890 252 868 4757 Data Protection Commission, Canal House, Station Road, Portarlington, R32 AP23, County Laois. Relevant e mail: info@dataprotection.ie

Changes to our Privacy Statement

We may change this Privacy Statement at any time. Any such changes can be viewed on our website at www.ahcps.ie

Terms and Conditions

Access to this Site and the use of information contained on it is governed by the terms and conditions set out below. As these terms and conditions are for the protection of both you and the Association, we advise that you please take the time to read them carefully.

By using this Site or corresponding with the AHCPS you will be deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions. Please note that these data processing services are conducted by the AHCPS and that references to “we”, “us” and “our” mean our Association or the AHCPS. Copyright in this Site and the information set out on it belongs to the AHCPS and/or our licensors and may not be copied, transmitted, or reproduced without our prior consent. All copyright, trademark and other proprietary notices must be left intact. Save as otherwise specified, the contents of all the pages contained in this site are copyright of the AHCPS or its licensors. Reproduction of part or all the contents of the pages in any form is prohibited other than in accordance with the following permissions:

• You are granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence solely for the purpose of using this Site and any services available on this Site.
• You may make one electronically stored, transient copy of these pages of this site for the exclusive purpose of on-line viewing.
• You may make one hard copy of these pages for exclusively, non-commercial purposes. Save whether otherwise specified, the author(s) of the literary and artistic work set out in the pages contained in this Site has/have asserted his/her/their moral rights to be identified as the author of these works. This licence does not permit incorporation of the material or any part of it in any other work or publication, whether in hardcopy or electronic or any other form. In particular, (but without limitation) no part of this Site may be distributed or copied for any commercial purpose. No part of this Site may be reproduced on or transmitted to or stored in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval. The contents of this Site including these terms and conditions are subject to change by us without notification to you. While we make every effort to make you aware of such changes, we accept no responsibility or liability for keeping you informed of such changes.

Obligations & Responsibilities

The information contained in this Site is for information purposes only. Every care has been taken in its preparation, but we are not providing any warranties or representations as to its completeness, accuracy, or reliability. We have made all reasonable efforts to ensure all the information on the Site is accurate at the time of inclusion, but we do not represent that this is the case, and it should not be relied upon as such. We neither accept nor assume any responsibility to you in relation to the contents of this Site.

Access to and use of this Site is at the user’s own risk and we do not represent or guarantee in any way the use of this Site or any material downloaded from it will not cause damage to property, including but not limited to loss of data or computer virus infection. We reserve the right to update or alter the information on this Site including these terms and conditions at any time without giving notice of the alterations. The AHCPS does not give any guarantee of uninterrupted use of this Site and the Association does not accept liability for any information posted on this Site by third parties, or any link to this Site published by third parties. You must ensure that your use of this Site complies with all applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to those principles of law that protect against compromise of copyrights, trade secrets, proprietary information, individual privacy rights and other intellectual property rights, liable or defamation of character, invasion of privacy or tortious interference.

We strive to protect such information but cannot ensure the security of any information that  you transmit to us. Therefore, any information you do transmit to us is transmitted at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we will take all reasonable steps to preserve the security of that information. You agree not to post or publish any offensive, defamatory, or unlawful material that could encourage or constitute a criminal offence, civil liability, or violation of any law. The AHCPS  reserves the right to monitor or review the contents of the Site but are not obliged to do so and assume no liability or responsibility for the contents therein. The AHCPS reserves the right to remove any materials posted to the Site at its absolute discretion. The Association may, at its own discretion or where required to do so by law, disclose your identity to relevant parties to aid an investigation. You are required to ensure the information you enter on this Site is accurate and you indemnify us in respect of any damage or legal costs arising from any action taken against us concerning material you post.