Candidatewatch.ie takes the protection of your personal data very seriously, and abides strictly by data protection provisions. Under no circumstances will the data collected be sold or otherwise passed to third parties.
The use of candidatewatch.ie is free, and prior registration is not required. Your Internet movements will not be tracked, nor will usage behaviour analyses be created, when you visit candidatewatch.ie.
The privacy statement below provides an overview of the manner in which we ensure data protection, and explains the kind of data we collect, and the purposes for which they are collected.
1. Collection of personal data
The central function of candidatewatch.ie is to enable citizens to question politicians. The following data are polled in order to enable users to avail of the question function:
- Surname
- First name
- Place of residence (will not be published)
- E-mail address: (will not be published)
2. Purpose of collecting personal data
Candidatewatch.ie is not an opinion forum. The online dialogue between citizens and politicians is intended to render politics more transparent and relevant to citizens. This also requires reciprocal transparency in respect of all the players involved. Thanks to the information provided in the candidates’ profiles, questioners are familiar with the basic details of the politician being questioned. This must also apply in reverse. That is why we provide the candidate being questioned with the name and place of residence of the questioner. Under no circumstances, however, will we provide third parties with the questioner's e-mail address or telephone number. This information serves solely to enable us to contact the questioner. In addition, we will inform questioners and candidates if a question breaches the moderation Code of Conduct, and will therefore not be cleared for publication on candidatewatch.ie.
Your e-mail address, telephone number and place of residence will not be published on candidatewatch.ie.
3. IP storage
To ensure legal compliance, a user's IP address, together with the data, will be stored if the user has participated substantively in candidatewatch.ie, for example by questioning a candidate.
4. Server logfile
Any time a candidatewatch.ie page is accessed, the user’s browser information is automatically transmitted to us. This includes details relating to the browser type, operating system, IP, time and previously visited pages (referrers). It is not possible for the operators of candidatewatch.ie to assign this information to specific individuals. The data are not merged with other data sources, and the log files will be deleted following a statistical evaluation.
5. Cookies
Candidatewatch.ie uses cookies in several contexts. They are intended to help us make the content more user-friendly and effective. By changing the settings on their Internet browser, users can decide themselves whether they wish to accept cookies, whether they wish to be informed when a cookie is created, or whether they wish to reject all cookies. Even if cookies have been deactivated, candidatewatch.ie will remain fully functional.
6. Links
Candidatewatch.ie cannot accept any responsibility for the content of a web page referenced by an external link. This Privacy Policy explains our data collection practices and only applies to this website. Other websites to which this website links are not covered by this privacy policy.