Data Protection

Data Protection Notice and Information for all our Customers

All personal data processed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will take place in accordance with the law on Data Protection and will only be for the purposes connected to the functions of this Department.

Department staff are also considered as customers of the Department from a Data Protection perspective and may exercise their data protection rights in the same way.

The Department is fully committed to keeping all personal data submitted by its customers, fully safe and secure during administrative processes. All necessary technical measures have been put in place to ensure the safety and security of the systems which hold this data.

At times personal data may be used in an IMT test environment to ensure that the IMT service delivered will meet the requirements of the Department scheme/service/function for our customers. Where possible, the Department will limit the use of personal data in this way and aims to anonymise and pseudonymise such data.

Transparency and openness in the use of personal data held is important to the Department and therefore we aim to fully inform all our customers about the purpose(s) for which their data is used and why, where it is shared, and how long their data is held by the Department. Information on the rights of the customers and how to exercise these rights are also provided.

Terms and conditions documentation attached to Schemes and/or information provided to our customers on application forms have been substantially amended to provide for the additional data protection information which should be provided to our customers under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Where customers provide personal data within queries/complaints sent to the Department, this data will be processed within the Department as necessary to deal with such queries/complaints.

Other Data Protection Notices on our Website

Data Protection information will be updated on this page from time to time.

Under Data Protection legislation, individuals have a right to obtain from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, a copy of any personal information held on them on computer or structured filing system. This is commonly referred to as a Subject Access Request.

How to make a request

To lodge a Subject Access Request with DAFM, you need to contact us and ask us for your data. This can be a be done, via email, phone call or in writing.

Requesters can be asked to provide additional details that may be necessary to locate the records, such as herd number, personnel number or PPSN. It may be necessary to obtain proof of identity and address to ensure that the person making the access request is acting legitimately. Requests should be sent to the Data Protection Officer.

A Subject Access Form is available to assist you

Is there a fee?

There is no fee applicable under GDPR to make an access request for your own personal data, unless the request is considered manifestly unfounded or excessive.

Should the request be considered to be manifestly unfounded or excessive the following fees may apply:

Search, retrieval and copying of records: €20.00 per hour

Photocopy: €0.04 per sheet

CD Rom: €10.00

When should a response be issued?

Under the General Data Protection Regulation the information requested must be provided within one month. Where requests are complex or involve a large number of requests this time limit may be extended for a further two months.

Are there exceptions to the right of access?

Some exceptions do apply to the release of data including access to third party data, legally privileged data, data required for the prevention, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences.

Right of Appeal

If the Department fails to comply with a valid data access request, the requester has the right to make a complaint to the Data Protection Commission. The Commissioner will investigate the matter and has wide powers to ensure the Department complies with the provisions of the Acts. Financial penalties can be imposed.

Complaints should be made in writing, including email, to the Data Protection Commission at:

Further Information

The website of the Data Protection Commission at https://www.dataprotection.ie/ is an excellent source of information. They can also provide information by phone or email.

The current legislation for Data Protection in Ireland is the Data Protection Act 1988 as amended by the 2003 Data Protection Act, The Data Protection Act 2018 and The General Data Protection Regulations (EU 2016/679) which came into effect on 25 May 2018. (It should be noted that the 1988 Data Protection Act as amended in 2003 will likely be repealed in full, in due course).

If the Department receives any information which leads it to believe that a criminal offence may have taken place it will use all data available, including personal data, to pursue any necessary investigation and/or prosecution as provided for under the terms of the Law Enforcement Directive (EU 2016/680).

In this Department the majority of processing activities are based on a legal obligation. Some activities may be based on public interest or the exercise of official authority of the Department, including the engagement of contractors to assist in carrying out our functions. The Privacy Notices page provide additional information on specific progressing activities undertaken by the Department.

Under Data Protection Legislation, The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, as a data controller is responsible for the collection and processing of all personal data under its administration.

The Data Protection Officer can be contacted as follows:

All personal data processed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will take place in accordance with the law on Data Protection and will only be used for the purposes connected to the functions of this Department. These functions are listed below:

In carrying out its mandate the Department undertakes a variety of functions including:

• Policy advice and development on all areas of Departmental responsibility.
• Representation in international especially EU and national negotiations.
• Development and implementation of national and EU schemes in support of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Forestry and Rural Environment.
• Monitoring and controlling aspects of Food Safety.
• Control and audit of public expenditure under its control.
• Regulation of the agriculture, fisheries, and food industries through national and EU legislation.
• Monitoring and controlling animal and plant health and animal welfare.
• Monitoring and direction of State Bodies engaged in the following areas - research training and advice - market development and promotion- industry regulation and development- commercial activities.
• Direct provision of support services to Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Forestry.

When you, as a customer, provide personal data to the Department you have certain rights available to you in relation to that data. However, it should be noted that not all rights listed shall be applicable in every circumstance. These rights are outlined below and can be exercised by contacting the Data Protection Officer, as detailed above, indicating which right(s) you wish to exercise:

Department customers can avail of, where applicable, the following rights

• access to their data
• rectification of their data
• erasure of their data
• restriction of processing
• data portability
• objection to processing
• withdraw consent if they previously gave it in relation to processing of their personal data
• rights relating to automated decision making, including profiling.
• right to lodge a complaint with the Supervisory Authority

At the point of collection of your personal data (e.g. in the application form) information should be provided on where the personal data you are providing will be shared. At all times it will only be shared where there is a valid legal basis to do so and in accordance with the appropriate Data Protection legislation.

Where personal data is collected and a research/statistics purpose is deemed compatible with the purpose for collection, then it may be used/shared for this purpose. This will take place in accordance with Data Protection law. Where possible information on this will be provided to the customer at the point of data collection, or as soon as possible thereafter

Information processed for this purpose will only be retained for as long as there is a business need to do so and thereafter will be marked for deletion and will be destroyed in line with internal guidelines or guidelines for destruction received from the National Archives Office or associated permissions received from them.

Where possible the Department will anonymise or pseudonymise (mask) personal data so that the personal data will only be available to those who have a clear business need to see it.

The Department uses the PPS Number (PPSN) as a customer identifier for the administration of schemes and services to our external customers and in the delivery of employee related services to our internal staff. Further information is available on the Gov.ie website under Register of Users Here

Data Protection Privacy Notices

If you are concerned that your data has been breached by DAFM then you should provide full details of the complaint to;

Data Sharing Agreements under DSGA