Privacy notice

Hiking Club Ireland respects your right to privacy and complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (Ireland). This notice explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data when you use our website, sign up for events, or subscribe to our communications.

By using this website or participating in our activities, you accept the terms of this Privacy Notice. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

1. Who we are

Hiking Club Ireland is a nonprofit hiking group operating in Ireland. We are the data controller for the personal data we process. You can contact us at [email protected].

2. How we collect your information

We collect personal data when you:

Create an account or sign up for our Member’s Portal
Register for hikes or events (online or in person)
Subscribe to our newsletter or event alerts
Place an order (e.g. event contributions) via our website
Contact us by email or through our website

We only collect address details when you provide them as part of an order, to fulfil that order. We do not source personal data from third parties for marketing.

3. Types of information we collect

Personal data — Data that identifies you, such as name, email address, telephone number, delivery address, and (where not anonymised) IP address. We never have access to or store your payment card details; these are handled by our payment providers (Revolut, PayPal) via secure, encrypted channels.

Non-personal data — Aggregated, anonymous information (e.g. anonymised IP addresses, browser types, general usage statistics) that cannot identify you.

4. Purposes and legal basis for processing

We process your personal data for:

Fulfilling orders — Contract performance
Managing your account and event registrations — Contract performance
Sending newsletters and event alerts — Your consent (you can withdraw at any time via the unsubscribe link in every email, or by emailing [email protected])
Responding to enquiries — Legitimate interest
Improving our website — Legitimate interest (using anonymised analytics)

5. How long we keep your data

We retain personal data only as long as necessary:

Account data — Until you request deletion or close your account
Order data — As required for tax and legal obligations (typically up to 7 years)
Newsletter/event alerts — Until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent

6. Sharing your data

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it only:

With service providers who help us operate (e.g. hosting, payment processors, couriers) — they are bound by data protection obligations
Where required by law (e.g. court order, regulatory request)
In the event of a sale or transfer of our organisation, provided the new controller agrees to this notice

We may share anonymised, non-personal data with analytics providers (e.g. Google) to improve our website.

7. Cookies

We use cookies to enable the Member’s Portal and to improve your experience. Our cookies are not shared with other websites. You can decline cookies in your browser, but this may affect site functionality. Session cookies are deleted when you log out or close your browser.

8. Security

Your data is held on secure servers (hosted by DigitalOcean). We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data. No internet transmission is 100% secure, but we take all reasonable steps to safeguard your information.

9. Your rights

Under GDPR you have the right to:

Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Rectification — Request correction of inaccurate data
Erasure — Request deletion of your data (where applicable)
Restriction — Request that we limit how we use your data
Object — Object to processing based on legitimate interests
Portability — Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Withdraw consent — Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (Ireland).

10. External links

Our website may link to external sites. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. Please review their policies before providing any personal data.

11. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email where appropriate.

Last updated: March 2025