GDPR & Privacy Policy

Adoption Authority of Ireland Website Privacy Policy

The Adoption Authority of Ireland respects your right to privacy and complies with its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The goal of this website privacy policy is to help you understand how the Authority deals with any personal data you provide when you visit its website or interact with the Authority online. It also outlines your rights as a data subject with respect to personal data the Authority might hold on you through your interaction with us offline.

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

By visiting the www.aai.gov.ie website, you are accepting the terms of this website privacy policy.

This website contains external links to other websites and the Authority is not responsible for the privacy policies of these other websites.

What type of Information do we collect?

You may browse our site anonymously, but certain functions and pages may be unavailable to you.
We collect information from you when you visit our website using Google Analytics for statistical analysis purposes only.
If you send us an email, we may collect your name, your email address, and any other information, which you choose to give us.
If you complete one of our online forms, we will collect you Name, Phone and any other details you choose to give us.

If you download any application forms included in our website, you will be notified of any additional specific data protection provisions at the time that you complete the relevant application form.
If we do collect any personal data, it will be processed and stored securely, for no longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected. We will comply with our obligations and safeguard your rights under the GDPR at all times.

What are your rights under GDPR as a data subject?

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you, as a data subject have a number of rights, which are detailed below. Some of these only apply in specific circumstances and are qualified in several respects by exemptions in data protection legislation. We will advise you in our response to your request if we are relying on any such exemptions.

Access to personal data: You have a right to request a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. Should you wish to make such a request, please see the Contact Us section.You should include adequate information to identify yourself and such other relevant information that will reasonably assist us in fulfilling your request.
Correction of personal data: You can request us to rectify and correct any personal data that we are processing about you which is incorrect.
Right to withdraw consent: Where we have relied upon your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent.
Right of erasure: You can request us to erase your personal data where there is no compelling reason to continue processing. This right only applies in certain circumstances; it is not a guaranteed or absolute right.

Right to restrict processing of personal data: You have the right in certain circumstances to request that we suspend our processing of your personal data. Where we suspend our processing of your personal data we will still be permitted to store your personal data, but any other processing of this information will require your consent, subject to certain exemptions.
Right to object to processing of personal data: You have the right to object to our use of your personal data, which is processed on the basis of our legitimate interests. However, we may continue to process your personal data, despite your objection, where there are compelling legitimate grounds to do so or we need to process your personal data in connection with any legal claims.

If you have any cause for complaint about our use of your personal data, please contact us and we will do our best to solve the problem for you. If we are unable to help, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with Ireland’s supervisory authority, the Data Protection Commissioner

For further information about your rights, please contact the Data Protection Commission.

Users 16 years and under

If you are aged 16 or under, you MUST obtain your parent / guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to our website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

Do we use cookies?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser (if you allow) that lets the sites or service provider's systems to recognise your browser and capture and remember certain information.

This website uses Google Analytics to gather anonymous statistics about visitors to the site and which pages are visited.

If you prefer, you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies via your browser settings. Like most websites, if you turn your cookies off, some of our services may not function properly.

Changes to Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to make changes to our web privacy policy at any time without prior consultation; these changes will be posted on this page together with the privacy policy revision date.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, you may contact us using the information below.

Data Protection Officer
Adoption Authority of Ireland
Shelbourne House
Shelbourne Road
Dublin 4
D04 H6F6

Our service users may submit inquiries regarding personal data protection, privacy and security matters to dataprotection@aai.gov.ie