The Data Centre is fully committed to transparency and ensuring the privacy and security of your data.

The basics

In case you are pressed for time, here is a succinct version of our privacy policy.

1. We only collect the personal data required to provide you with the Data Centre’s services.
2. The data we collect is stored in a secure manner.
3. We will never provide your personal data to third parties for the purposes of marketing or advertising.
4. We keep your data on file for as long as is necessary to provide the Data Centre’s services to you.
5. You can request your data, have it removed or anonymised at any time by contacting info@biodiversityireland.ie.
6. Our web-servers/analytics packages log specific data such as IP address/Browser version in order to track performance and to provide you with a tailored user-experience.
7. Our web-sites may use Cookies to provide you with a better user experience. You can of course block these Cookies using your browser.

What do we collect?

During the course of the Data Centre’s normal day to day operations we may collect the following types of data:

Personal Data

• Name
• Address
• Telephone Number
• Email
• Payment information – Not stored locally, this data passes securely over an encrypted connection to our payment provider Stripe
• IP address – Collected automatically by web servers and is not used for anything other than normal day to day ICT operations such as checking for system errors etc.
• Records of your queries and correspondence with the data centre e.g. via email or letter

Non-Personal Data

• Browser types and cookies – collected automatically by analytics software and websites and not used for anything other than tracking website performance and the provision of a user friendly interface to end-users.

Why do we need it?

The National Biodiversity Data Centre is committed to your privacy. We only collect personal data where absolutely necessary to the provision of the Data Centre’s core services i.e. documenting and conserving Ireland’s biodiversity.

As such we may need to collect personal data in following circumstances:

• To store species observations submitted by you on Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal. We may also from time to time need to contact you to verify a species identification etc.
• To provide datasets submitted directly to the National Biodiversity Data Centre on Biodiversity Maps.
• To process payments for merchandise purchased in the Data Centre’s on-line shop.
• To provide access to secure areas of our systems e.g. user logins.
• To contact you with information about interesting developments at the Data Centre e.g. mailing lists. This should only occur with your consent.
• To review job applications made directly to us.

What do we with it?

Your personal data is warehoused for the most part in the National Biodiversity Data Centre, WIT West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford, Ireland. Your data is stored securely on industry standard fire-walled servers.

Some forms of additional data is hosted with our service providers:

• Payment data is hosted with Stripe.
• Event registrations are hosted with EventZilla.
• WordPress sites are hosted on EU servers with StableHost.
• Mailing lists are hosted with MailChimp.
• Email is hosted with Microsoft Office 365.
• Certain elements of our backup solution are hosted with Google Cloud Services.
• Analytics packages are hosted with Google Analytics and WordPress.

The security of your data and also transparency is of the utmost concern to us. Your data will not be transferred to any third-party unless explicitly authorised by you in the following circumstances:

• Datasets published on Biodiversity Maps which are licensed as CC-BY 4.0 are downloadable in CSV format. CC-BY licensed data may also be included in bespoke reports generated by the Data Centre. However email addresses are never published on Biodiversity Maps.
• If you are registered as a dataset provider on Biodiversity Maps, contact details will have been provided in the dataset meta-data when the dataset was originally provided to the Data Centre. These details will be published with the dataset meta-data on Biodiversity Maps.

Our third-party service providers will have similar pertinent data policies in place.

Any personal data we collect is solely for the provision of the Data Centre’s services to you. We will never provide your personal data to third parties for the purposes of marketing or advertising.

How long do we keep it?

We will maintain data for as long as required to enable the provision of the Data Centre’s services to you.

What about security?

The National Biodiversity Data Centre will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the security and integrity of your personal data is maintained at all times.

What are your rights?

If you have concerns regarding your data then you have the ability to make reasonable requests to see this information, rectify it or have it deleted/anonymised. Please contact us via email at info@biodiversityireland.ie with any concerns you might have in this area.

Right to be forgotten

If you would prefer that your data be removed or anonymised then please contact the Data Centre via email at info@biodiversityireland.ie.

Regarding cookies

Our websites may store some information on your computer in the form of a “Cookie”. A Cookie is a small text file that is saved locally to your computer and permits us to provide you with a more tailored user experience. You have a right to refuse to accept cookies by blocking them in your internet browser. However you may then experience a reduced user experience should since certain web pages may not be able to maintain your selected preference between page re-loads etc.