Privacy Statement

This notice provides you with information regarding the personal data about you which is held by the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR). 

The OPR fully respects your right to privacy. Your personal data will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 “Data Protection Legislation”).

How we use personal data
The OPR needs to process certain personal data in order to carry out tasks required in the course of the performance of our functions and to comply with certain legal obligations to which the OPR is subject.

Examples of this include processing related to our role as an employer or in processing data in order to make payments or carry out audits; processing submissions from public consultations; processing contact details in the course of communicating with a wide range of the OPR’s stakeholders; processing data in the course of Oireachtas business; processing Freedom of Information (FOI) and Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) requests and general queries, requests for information or complaints from customers; carrying out reviews of local authorities and An Bord Pleanála; processing connected to public procurement and contractual agreements with service providers, etc.

Recipients
Personal data may be exchanged 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.

How long will we keep your data?
The OPR will only retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which they were collected and subsequently processed, and in line with certain statutory requirements, where relevant. When the personal data that we collect is no longer required, we destroy or delete it in a secure manner.

Data Security
The OPR is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and employs appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information from unauthorised access.

Your rights
The OPR’s Data Protection Policy, 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).

To access a copy of the personal data held by the OPR, in relation to you, please make a Subject Access Request.

You also have the right to complain to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (www.dataprotection.ie (link is external)) if you consider that your rights under GDPR have been infringed, and you have the right to seek a judicial remedy.

Contacting Us
If you require further information, please contact the OPR’s Data Protection Officer, details below:

Data Protection Officer,
Office of the Planning Regulator,
Park House
Grangegorman,
191-193A North Circular Road,
Dublin 7
D07 EWV4

Cookies
For general web browsing no personal information is revealed to us, although certain statistical information is available to us via our internet service provider.

This website uses “cookie” technology. Cookies are small data files placed on your computer, mobile or other device when you browse online.

Generally speaking, cookies do not contain personal information from which you can be identified, unless you have furnished such information to the website.

Most browsers allow you to turn off cookies or to customise your settings for cookies. To find out how to do this, see the ‘Help’ menu on your browser. Please note that if you turn off cookies or change your settings, some features of this web site may not work correctly.

Use of Cookies and Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf.

Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

One of the OPR’s primary functions, as provided for in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2018 (the Act) is to conduct national planning research, education and training.

With this in mind the OPR developed an online resource, in the form of the planning library which brings together a broad range of planning policy guidelines and research in one central, accessible location. A glossary and acronym list are also available to use as technical aids when navigating the library collection.