Privacy Statement

Central Bank of Ireland 

This statement relates to our privacy practices in connection with this website. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other websites. Any external links to other websites are clearly identifiable as such. Some technical terms used in this statement are explained at the end of this page.

General Statement

The Central Bank of Ireland fully respects your right to privacy, and will not collect any personal information about you on this website without your consent. Any personal information that you volunteer to the Central Bank of Ireland will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Acts, 1988 & 2003.

Any changes to this privacy statement will be posted on this website so you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this privacy statement you should contact our Press Office on 01 224 6299 or e-mail press@centralbank.ie

Collection and use of Personal Information 

The Central Bank of Ireland does not collect any personal data about you on this website, apart from information which you volunteer (for example by e-mailing us or by using our online feedback form). Any information that you provide in this way is not made available to any third parties, and is used by the Central Bank of Ireland for the purpose for which you provided it.

Collection and use of Technical Information 

This website does not use cookies, apart from temporary "session" cookies which enable a visitor’s web browser to remember which pages on this website have already been visited. Visitors can use this website with no loss of functionality if cookies are disabled from the web browser.

Technical details in connection with visits to this website are logged by our Internet service provider for our statistical purposes. No information is collected that could be used by us to identify website visitors. The technical details logged are confined to the following items:

  • The IP address of the visitor’s web server ;
  • The top-level domain name used (for example .ie, .com, .org, .net) ;
  • The previous website address from which the visitor reached us, including any search terms used;
  • Clickstream data which shows the traffic of visitors around this website (for example pages accessed and documents downloaded); and
  • The type of web browser used by the website visitor.

The Central Bank of Ireland will make no attempt to identify individual visitors, or to associate the technical details listed above with any individual. It is the policy of the Central Bank of Ireland never to disclose such technical information in respect of individual website visitors to any third party (apart from our Internet service provider, which records such data on our behalf and which is bound by confidentiality provisions in this regard), unless obliged to disclose such information by law. The technical information will be used only by the Central Bank of Ireland, and only for statistical purposes to help us to increase the usability and accessibility of our website. You should note that technical details, which we cannot associate with any identifiable individual, do not constitute "personal data" for the purposes of the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003.

Glossary of Technical Terms Used 

Web browser
The piece of software you use to read web pages. Examples are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Safari and Opera.

IP address
The identifying details for your computer (or your Internet company’s computer), expressed in "internet protocol" code (for example 192.168.72.34). Every computer connected to the web has a unique IP address, although the address may not be the same every time a connection is made.

Cookies
Small pieces of information, stored in simple text files, placed on your computer by a website. Cookies can be read by the website on your subsequent visits. The information stored in a cookie may relate to your browsing habits on the web page, or a unique identification number so that the website can "remember" you on your return visit. Generally speaking, cookies do not contain personal information from which you can be identified, unless you have furnished such information to the website.