The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to outline the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s commitment to ensuring Digital Postbox users’ right to privacy is upheld. This Notice sets out how your personal data will be processed in the Digital Postbox, it will be published in plain,easy to understand language, and be available on the Digital Postbox website.
The Privacy Notice will endeavor to help individual users to understand what information is collected, why it is collected and how it can be managed, accessed and deleted. In order to avail of the Digital Postbox, each user must provide explicit consent and agree to the Privacy Notice.
The Digital Postbox is an online mail delivery service which offers an alternative to traditional post or emails. It is maintained by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on behalf of Public Service Bodies and enables them to communicate securely with you. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform fully respects your right to privacy, and will not process any personal information for the running of the Digital Postbox service without your clear and explicit permission.
All data processing will be initiated on explicit instruction, where you opt-in to the Digital Postbox service in order to receive any messages (letters and documents) from Public Service Bodies. Any personal information which you volunteer will be treated securely and confidentially and in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Some technical terms used in this notice are explained at the end of this page.
The Digital Postbox will adopt an opt-in principle by default, meaning no data collection or sharing will ever take place until we receive your prior consent. You will have and maintain full control over your Digital Postbox account, it is your decision if you choose to opt-in. In addition, you can choose to opt-out of the Digital Postbox service at any time, and all data collection, sharing and storage will stop.
The Digital Postbox will act as your personal store of different types of messages, delivered directly to you from Public Service Bodies. Once you have opted-in to the service, Public Service Bodies will then have the ability to send you messages directly into your Digital Postbox account.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will be acting as a data processor in relation to the processing of messages, and accordingly Data processor agreements will be agreed with each Public Service Body to facilitate the delivery of these messages to you. These messages may include your personal data, and may also include personal data that is sensitive in nature. Only you will have access to the messages in your Digital Postbox account.
Your access to the Digital Postbox will be secured and verified using MyGovID. MyGovID has been built with personal privacy and security in mind. It utilises the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s SAFE (face-2-face) interview process to verify your online identity.
This will ensure that:
If you choose to avail of the Digital Postbox, the following personal information will be transferred from your MyGovID account to your Digital Postbox account
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will be acting as a data controller in relation to your user profile data (which will be supplied via MyGovID), The Department have signed a Data Sharing Agreement with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (the operators of MyGovID) in order to reuse this data. Note, the Digital Postbox will only ever collect these details in order to identify you, facilitate the delivery of your messages from Public Service Bodies, and notify you of new messages.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have responsibility for reform and modernisation of the Public Service. The implementation of the Digital Postbox is very much in line with that remit.
The e-Commerce Act 2000 provides for the conditional delivery of information in electronic form from PSBs to individuals. Therefore, PSBs can deliver post via electronic means, unless current legislation specifically requires the delivery of this service by traditional post, or otherwise. The Digital Postbox is one such electronic means.
The legal basis for the processing of personal data within the Digital Postbox service will be the explicit consent of the individual concerned. It will adopt an “opt-in” approach, asking the individual “if they wish to receive correspondence from PSBs digitally into their Digital Postbox. The consent simply allows the processing of personal data which is required for PSBs to send the individual messages via the Digital Postbox. At the same time, it needs to be pointed out that individuals are under no obligation to avail of this service, they can continue to receive their post by traditional means. In addition, individuals can easily opt-out of the Digital Postbox at any time.
To ensure the individual’s safe and secure access to the Digital Postbox, MyGovID is utilised for the authentication and verification of individuals. MyGovID uses the Public Service Identity (PSI) dataset, and elements of this dataset are shared with the Digital Postbox as part of the MyGovID process.
The legal basis for the Department to process the PSI data elements for the purpose of authentication in the above scenarios is in line with Section 262(6) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is a specified body under Schedule 5 of Social Welfare Act 2005, which provides for sharing of the PSI dataset (this includes PPSN, name and date-of-birth).
We may collect the following information from you
We will neither make attempts to identify individual visitors, nor associate the technical details listed above with any individual. It is our policy never to disclose such technical information in respect of individual website visitors to any third party unless explicitly stated, or obliged to disclose such information by a rule of law. The information outlined above will be used only for statistical, security and technical purposes.
Cookies are small pieces of information, stored in simple text files, placed on your computer by a website. Some cookies can be read by the website on your subsequent visits. The information stored in a cookie may relate to your browsing activities on the website, or a unique identifier so that the website can ‘remember’ you on your return visit. Other cookies are deleted when you close your web browser and only relate to the working of the website. Generally speaking, cookies do not contain personal information from which you can be identified, unless you have furnished such information to the website. Please note that if you turn off cookies or change your settings, some features of the website may not work correctly.
Cookies are used in the following cases:
Google Analytics is solely used on the informational website – it is not installed on your account pages, and has no access to any information or personal data on your Digital Postbox account.
We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (‘Google’). Google Analytics in conjunction with the Digital Postbox uses ‘cookies’ which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information stored in the cookies by Digital Postbox (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on Google servers for a period of 26 months. This information will be used for the purpose of evaluating use of the Digital Postbox, and compiling generic reports on activity, and improving the user experience.
Under the GDPR, anyone whose personal data is held within the Digital Postbox, can submit a Data Subject Access Request (SAR) seeking access to their personal data. You also have the right to request the rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or object to the processing of your personal data.
Due to the very nature of the Digital Postbox – all your personal information is readily available to you when you log in to the Digital Postbox. You can simply login to the Digital Postbox to view your user profile information and any messages that have been sent to your Digital Postbox account. You can also amend or delete data up to and including the deletion of your Digital Postbox account entirely.
If you have any concerns about the processing of your personal data in the Digital Postbox, you can contact the Department’s Data Protection Officer (DPO).
You can contact our DPO by e-mail: dataprotection@per.gov.ie
If you wish to make a complaint about the use of your personal data you can contact the Data Protection Commission (DPC). Further details are available at www.dataprotection.ie
Another way you may obtain personal information is under the Freedom of Information Acts.
Under the Freedom of Information Acts every person has a right, subject to certain restrictions, to access information held by Government Departments, agencies and other designated bodies in receipt of State funding. The Acts also allow for persons to seek access to their own data held by such bodies. There is no fee for this service. More information on Freedom of information is available at: https://foi.gov.ie/
If you would like to make an FOI request, it should be sent by email to foi@per.gov.ie, containing reference to the FOI Act 2014, and giving as much information as possible about the records being sought. Alternatively, requests may also be received in writing to the following address: Freedom of Information Unit, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2, D02 R583
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform reserves the right to amend this notice at any future date and will post any substantive changes for you to view here.
