To create an account with us

To become a subscriber to The Irish Times or to purchase or subscribe to one of our other Services, you will need to create an account with us.

We will use your personal information to carry out our obligations arising from any contract you as our customer have entered into with us, including sending important notices such as communications relating to payment, delivery services, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies and to notify you about changes to our service. We may notify you by phone, post, email, SMS text or through other digital media depending on the content of the notification and your preferred contact mechanism.

We will also use your personal information to provide you welcome emails to help you get the most out of your subscription, subscriber-only content (e.g. specially selected articles and subscriber-only newsletters) and subscriber rewards which may include competitions, events and offers that are available exclusively to our subscribers.   

If you cancel your subscription with us, we may use your personal information for direct marketing (provided you have not objected to us using your details in this way). We will generally send you direct marketing by email.  We will use your information for a reasonable period of time after your relationship with us has ended. Specifically, we will send you a short series of emails to remind you of the benefits of a subscription with us.  You have the right to unsubscribe to receipt of these emails at any time. We rely on the lawful processing ground of our legitimate interests which are:

• To keep you informed of the benefits of a subscription.
• To develop and maintain relationships with our customers
• To implement customer-retention and win-back strategies

To pay for the Services you have requested from us

We will collect your payment information to pay for any Services you have requested from us. Credit and debit card information is processed directly by PCI-compliant payment providers who perform payment services on our behalf. Occasionally, our employees receive payment information from customers over the phone. When this occurs, the payment information is entered as instructed into the relevant payment system and all other copies are deleted or destroyed immediately. 

To facilitate live chat sessions

We provide “Live Chat” sessions on our website to help understand the subscriptions we offer. We use this information to respond to your enquiry. You can, if you wish, request that we send a copy of the transcript of the chat to the email address you have provided. Live-chat correspondence is maintained by us for verification purposes and is processed to take the necessary steps at your request prior to entering into a subscription contract with us.

To facilitate registration through social networks

We may collect your publically available social media profile details including your name and email address when you sign up for one of our services through a social media account. We may use these details for the purposes of our registration process in order to enter into a contract with you. We may also automatically import your profile photo and membership status of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter if you choose to make these details public. Where we do, we do so in pursuit of our legitimate interest in understanding the demographics of our customers and readers.

To place an advertisement

We may process your personal information if you opt to place an advertisement. We only process this information to deliver the advertising service you have requested as per the terms and conditions you accept.

To receive marketing communications

We may periodically send promotional emails about features, events, exclusive offers and competitions to the email address you have provided – we will only do so with your consent. We have an interest in making sure our marketing is relevant for you, so we may process your information to send you marketing communications tailored to your interests. You may at any time choose not to receive marketing communications from us by following the unsubscribe instructions included at the end of each email communication. 

For competition and promotional purposes

We regularly run competitions or similar promotions. If you choose to enter a competition or promotion, we will use your personal information to administer these promotions and as per the terms and conditions you accept when you enter. In some cases, your competition entry may be shared with the promoter and this will be specified when you enter.  If you win a competition, your contact information will be used to notify you as the winner and to award the relevant prize. We will publish your name on our website and indicate the prize you have won.  

To participate in a survey or poll

We conduct surveys and polls that we use to produce original research from our readers. Your participation is entirely voluntary. You may consent to The Irish Times contacting you at the email address provided to participate in this research. We do not track individuals but look at the information in the aggregate.  Any opinion you express, therefore, is anonymous.

From time to time, upon completing a survey or poll, we may ask for your email address for competition, promotional or gifting purposes. Participation is entirely voluntary and this information is processed and stored separately from the information you provide us for the survey or poll. Where you provide this information to us, it will be processed only to administer the competition or promotion.

To provide you with an email newsletter

To join our ‘Irish Times Abroad Network’

You may voluntarily opt to join our Irish Times Abroad Network. This, is a home for Irish-connected people around the world, with first-person Generation Emigration stories, news, interviews, features and opinion by and about the Irish overseas.  By joining the Abroad Network, you consent to receive a newsletter by email with the best stories from The Irish Times Abroad. This allows our overseas audience to keep in touch. You may at any time choose to no longer participate in the Abroad Network by following the unsubscribe instructions included at the end of each email communication.

To join our ‘Student Hub’

The Irish Times provides digital subscriptions to all qualifying third-level students through our Student Hub network.  We process the information you provide to deliver the requested subscription services to you.  We also process your information in accordance with our legitimate interests which are to verify student credentials, to assess the eligibility for a free subscription and to understand the demographics of our customers and readers.  As part of our ‘Student Hub’ network, you may further consent to receive a weekly newsletter with the latest student news & tips.

To share our content

We provide tools that enable users of our services to share or forward our content to a nominated email address. If someone else shares our content with you, we may temporarily collect your email address for the purpose of sharing the requested content. We will only use this information to fulfil the sharing request and this contact information is not retained by us. By providing us with your email address, the third party that initiates the sharing request indicates they have your consent to share our content with you.

To recommend content

We may use aggregate information we collect about you to suggest and recommend tailored content. By understanding which content you find useful or interesting, we can recommend more content that you might also like, as well as continuing to produce the most valuable content to meet your needs. This processing is necessary for the purpose of our legitimate interest in delivering relevant content to our readers.  You have the right to object to this processing, and if you wish to do so please visit the My Preferences section of My Account or contact us at dataprotection@irishtimes.com.

To provide an alert service

The Irish Times offers a number of email alert services.  With your consent, we will process your personal details for the purpose of sending you the alert service you have requested. If you prefer not to receive these alerts, you can opt out at any time by unsubscribing at the bottom of each email communication or logging into the relevant alert service and disabling the alert.

To track how you gain access to or read our content

We collect information relating to your use of our services to track how you gain access to or read our content.  We use log-in information, cookies and similar technologies, device information and internet protocol (“IP”) addresses to log your use of our services as follows:

• When you sign up for or subscribe to one of our services, we will track and aggregate non-personal information previously collected about you through our services with the personal information provided when you register or subscribe. If we link other data with your personal information we will treat that linked data as personal information for as long as it remains combined. We use this information to evaluate your personal preferences and interests, which under the GDPR may constitute as customer profiling. We do so in pursuit of our legitimate interests which are:
  • To research and improve The Irish Times’ products, services, and customer communications
  • To understand which content you find useful or interesting
  • To develop and maintain relationships with our customers and readers
  • To implement customer-retention and win-back strategies
  • To deliver relevant content to our readers
  • To understand the demographics of our customers and readers

You have the right to object to this processing, and if you wish to do so please visit the My Preferences section of My Account  or contact us at dataprotection@irishtimes.com.

• We log technical information that your browser sends us including: the internet protocol (IP) address; browser type and version; time-zone setting; access time; browser plug-in types and versions; operating system; and platform and device type
• We log usage information about the use of our website and services, including: a history of the pages viewed and other actions taken, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site; articles, content and products viewed or searched for; page response times; download errors; length of visits to certain pages; page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs); and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number
• Technical information, including: the type of mobile device used; unique mobile identifies, such as the devices IMEI number; mobile network information; the mobile operating system; the type of mobile browser used; and the time-zone setting
• Details of our mobile applications used including but not limited to: traffic data; location data; weblogs; and other communication data and the resources accessed
• Some of our location-enabled services require your personal GPS location data for the feature to work. If you wish to use a particular feature, you will be asked to specifically consent to your data being used for this purpose. This consent can by withdrawn at any time.

We use cookies and similar technologies to facilitate our Services in the retrieving of your user preferences; to personalise your visits; for the operation of our website; to collect statistical information about our visitors for analytical purposes; to simplify any sign-in procedures; to personalise content and ads and to provide social media features. We use some of the information you provide to personalise your experience with us as you use our Services, such as addressing you personally and making navigation on our sites easier.  For more information on the use of cookies and similar technologies, please see our Cookie Policy.

To measure the effectiveness of our email communications

We use such technologies to determine whether you’ve opened an email communication from us or clicked on a link contained in an email. Collecting information in this manner allows us to gather statistics about the usage and effectiveness of our services and products, including our email newsletters and direct marketing communications, in our legitimate interest.

To use our recruitment services

We may invite you to submit your personal information by applying for a job or becoming a candidate on our “Executive Jobs” website. Your personal information is used by us to provide our recruitment services to you. Where you consent, we will provide information on job opportunities and match your profile with suitable job vacancies. If you apply for a job posting, or if you explicitly enable recruiters to see your profile and CV in your candidate account settings, the personal information you provide to us (including sensitive information) may be shared with third-party recruiters and clients. In this circumstance, these third parties may contact you for the purposes of processing your job application and use your personal information to assess your suitability as a candidate. By sending us your personal information or by making a job application on our site, you agree to our recruitment terms and conditions. You may delete your candidate profile entirely if you wish by logging into your account and selecting the delete account option.

To apply for a job with us

If you apply for a job within The Irish Times Group, you may provide us with certain personal information about yourself. We will use this information for the purpose of processing and responding to your application, to assess your suitability as a potential candidate and for current and future career opportunities.

To monitor our premises with CCTV camera surveillance

Our premises at 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, are monitored by CCTV security cameras. We may record personal information about you if visit our offices or walk in close proximity to our business premises. CCTV notices are on display outside our building to inform you of our practices and to give you advance notice of any recording. 

We are processing CCTV video surveillance data generally without your consent in pursuit of our legitimate interests to protect the rights, property and safety of The Irish Times DAC and the rights, property and safety of our employees or others.

The CCTV surveillance information we collect may be shared with An Garda Síochána or other third parties where we are required to do so by law. 

To correspond with you

If you correspond with us, we will use your contact information to respond to your enquiry. We process this information in pursuit of our legitimate interests to develop and maintain relationships with our customers and readers.

To manage our everyday business needs

We may use your personal information to manage our every business needs, including for internal purposes such as auditing, data analysis, troubleshooting, accounting, providing customer service,  technical support and fraud prevention in our legitimate interest.  Our legitimate interest is the effective management of our business.

To verify your identity

To exercise your data rights, we may need to collect additional personal information from you to verify your identify and to process your request.

When you provide professional services to us

You may provide us with your personal information if you provide professional services to us. We process this information so we can administer, manage and pay for the relevant services you provide and as per the terms and conditions of our contract.