Privacy Policy for DCC Alerts

Summary

DCC Alerts is a free service provided by Dublin City Council to send alerts to subscribers based on six core alert categories (Water Alerts, Road Alerts, Community/Miscellaneous Alerts, Flood Alerts, Weather Alerts and Planning Alerts). Alerts are issued by a combination of SMS and Email. Alerts are also geographically focused meaning the subscriber will only receive alerts based on the location details selected by them and stored in their DCC Alerts account. The subscriber has complete control over what information they receive, the locational relevance of alerts, the channels via which they are contacted, and the opportunity to unsubscribe from the service in a few simple steps. On DCC Alerts, your personal information is limited to your phone number, email address, and up to two mapped locations.

Why do we require your information?

Dublin City Council seeks to promote the economic, social and cultural development of Dublin City and in doing so contribute significantly to improving the quality of life of the people of the city of Dublin.

The delivery of high quality services, tailored to meet the needs of all our customers, remains one of Dublin City Council’s core objectives and is included in our Corporate Plan. This quality service includes not only the level and quality of service given to our customers, but also the quality of our decision-making processes, the efficiency and effectiveness of our corporate operations, standard of our facilities and our ability to adapt in an ever-changing environment.

In order to provide the most effective and targeted range of services to meet the needs of the citizens, communities and businesses of Dublin city we are required to collect, process and use certain types of information about people and organisations. Depending on the service being sought or provided the information sought may include ‘personal data’ as defined by the Data Protection Acts and by the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR).

For any queries relating to the Dublin City Council Privacy Statement or Data Protection policies, please contact our designated Data Protection Officer.

Dublin City Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by telephone 01 222 3775

Identity and the contact details of the processor:

Identity and the contact details of the processor: The Data Processor is Pin Point Alerts Ltd, Burrell Hall, St. Kieran's College, College Road, Co. Kilkenny.

Purposes and legal basis for the processing

The following Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is gathered from registered users (subscribers):

1. Irish Mobile Number
   DCC Alerts is only available to Irish phone owners. As a result, DCC Alerts requires a unique login, and your mobile number is required to create and access your account. Dublin City Council will also use your mobile number to send you SMS Text Alerts.
2. Password
   To gain access to your account, you must first authenticate with DCC Alerts. Passwords are generated after registration and are salted/hashed on the Pin Point Alerts server. They are never saved in plain text.
3. Up to two stored map locations, by way of coarse map coordinates
   DCC Alerts provides subscribers with targeted alerts from Dublin City Council that are relevant to them locally. DCC Alerts allows you to add up to two places for which you want to get alerts. These are marked as Home and Work locations, and a route is generated between the two. One location is needed, with the second place being optional. It is the subscriber's responsibility to map their position on the system and offer the level of precision that they are comfortable with. It is not necessary to map exactly to a home location the centre of a town or townland is usually sufficient to ensure you get the alerts that are relevant to you. DCC Alerts stores coordinates statically in a database after they are updated by the subscriber and DCC Alerts does not track your location at any time. A Latitude Longitude pair is used to store coordinates. If you provide a location outside of Dublin City upon registration, MapAlerter will send you alerts for that location. DCC Alerts will send alerts to locations inside Dublin City.
4. Email Address
   DCC Alerts sends you email alerts from Dublin City Council using your email address. In the Pin Point Alerts database, the email address is a unique entity, and it is also used to change your account password if you forget it. If additional consent is required, your email address may be used to deliver service updates, policy changes, and changes to the DCC Alerts terms and conditions.
5. Our use of cookies:
   DCC Alerts makes use of cookies, which are small digital files that are stored in your web browser, that enable us to track your return visits to our website. We use cookies to ensure an improved user experience. The purpose of cookies on DCC Alerts is also used to speed up the load time for web pages on subsequent visits to the website. Your browser settings may allow you to block these cookies, which is fine and the service will continue to operate, but we recommend you have them enabled to help us personalise your experience of DCC Alerts.

Summary of how we use the data we gather:

We use the data to enable you to manage your own account. To properly send you notifications, we need your contact information, as well as a unique username (mobile number) for you to create an account. Your DCC Alerts account is accessed using your password. We need coordinate information about your position to send you precise localized alerts and notifications - this can be accurate to your town/city but not necessary to your exact house location. For your workplace, mapping a point on a map is optional (if you wish to receive notifications about your place of work).

The people that are given access to your personal information:

DCC Alerts is provided as a free service by Dublin City Council (the Data Controller). DCC Alerts uses MapAlerter technology provided by Pin Point Alerts Ltd (the Data Processor). We will solely use your PII details you provide at registration for the purposes of identifying if you should receive a text/email notification and, subsequently, we will use your contact details to correctly deliver the notification and/or alert.

Where does the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) database and backups reside?

All parts of DCC Alerts including databases and websites are hosted within the European Union. At no stage is PII transferred to a 3rd country outside of the European Union. Backups are fully encrypted and stored securely in Ireland for a maximum period of 14 days before self-deleting.

Rights of access to and rectification/deletion of personal data/Rights to object to processing.

You have the right to request for us to delete any personal data collected by us or to correct and rectify any errors in this data. You also have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for further information please visit the Data Protection section of the Council’s website: www.dublincity.ie/council/governance/freedom-information.

Processing is based on consent, the right to withdraw consent

The personal data we hold about you was collected based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent and request deletion of that data. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Obligation to provide personal data

In order to provide certain notifications to you, the Council requires your personal data, and cannot provide the alerts without this data. Where the council requires this data it will be made clear to you on application for these services, what personal data will be required to be held and processed by the Council.

Right to Complaint

If you have any concerns or complaints about the processing of your personal data or Dublin City County Council’s responses to regarding your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint to the Office of Data Protection Commissioner, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For further information please visit the Data Protection section of the Council’s website: https://www.dublincity.ie/council/governance/data-protection.

For further assistance on Data Protection contact:
Dublin City Council
Data Protection Officer
Information Management Unit
Civic Offices
Wood Quay
Dublin 8
Tel: (01) 222 3775
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.