Privacy Statement - Public Consultation on the Department’s Statement of Strategy 2025-2027

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the department responsible for housing and water, for physical and spatial planning, for local government, for weather forecasting and for built and natural heritage.

The department is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy statement explains how the department, as the Data Controller, will process the personal data provided to it in respect of responses received in relation to the public consultation on the department’s Statement of Strategy 2025-2027; how that information will be used, and what rights you may exercise in relation to your personal data.

The Strategy Statement serves as a framework for the department’s work, structured around the department’s mission and seven strategic goals. It provides information on how progress in achieving those goals will be monitored, by identifying measurable outputs, outcomes and performance indicators. The department will use the information provided in order to inform the development of the department’s Statement of Strategy 2025-2027. Contact details provided will be used to administer the submission process.

Please note that in the interests of transparency, all written submissions received will be anonymised and publicly posted on the website of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The department will not use any personal data collected from you in respect of the public consultation on the department’s Statement of Strategy 2025-2027 for automated decision-making, or for profiling purposes.

This processing of your personal data is lawful under Article 6 (1)(c). In accordance with the provisions of the Public Services Management Act 1997, the department must produce a Strategy Statement every three years.

The department implements appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information from unauthorised access. However, despite these efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse. In the event that your personal data is compromised as a result of a breach of security, the department’s Breach Management Policy and Procedures will be implemented.

Personal data may be shared internally for audit or other compliance purposes.

Personal data may be shared with other Government departments, local authorities, agencies under the aegis of the department, or other public bodies, in certain circumstances where this is provided for by law.

The department will not transfer personal data collected in respect of the public consultation on the department’s Statement of Strategy 2025-2027 to any country or international organisation outside the EU/EEA.

The department will only retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and processed. In line with legislative and business requirements, the data retention period for your personal data, in this instance, is 3 months from date of receipt of your submission.

The department's Data Protection Policy, which sets out how we will use your personal data, as well as providing information regarding your rights as a data subject (including details regarding right of access, right to rectification, right to erasure, right to restriction of processing, right to object), is available on our website. The policy is also available in hard copy upon request. If you consider that your rights have been infringed, you have the right to complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission (www.dataprotection.ie), and you have the right to seek a judicial remedy.

The department is the Data Controller when processing your personal data for the purposes outlined above.

The Department’s contact details are available at: Contact the Department of Housing

The department has appointed a Data Protection Officer to support its compliance with data protection law. The contact details for the department’s Data Protection Officer are:

Date: 21/02/2025