ARC Cancer Support Centres' Privacy Policy

ARC Cancer Support Centres is committed to respecting your privacy rights. This privacy policy lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any that we may collect from or about you. It applies to all products and services, and instances where we collect your personal data.

We have focused on implementing the practices of Fairness, Transparency and Accountability to protect your privacy. We respect your trust in us to use, store and share your personal information. This Privacy Statement relates to personal information that we collect through websites operated by us and not to personal information which we collect “off line”.

This Privacy Statement is authored in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018) and The EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR 2018).

Use the links below to find out more about how we use your personal information:

  • Who we are and how do you contact us?
  • What type of personal information about you do we process?
  • What is the source of your personal information?
  • How do we use the information you provide us?
  • Is your information shared with any third parties?
  • How do we protect your information?
  • Do we use cookies?
  • What are you rights under data protection laws?
  • For how long is your personal information retained by us?
  • How can you opt out of marketing communications

Changes to this privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time by updating this page in order to reflect changes in the law and/or our privacy practices. We encourage you to check this privacy policy for changes whenever you visit our website – www.arccancersupport.ie

By visiting the www.arccancersupport.ie website, you are accepting the terms of this website privacy policy. If you do not agree to this privacy policy in its entirety, you must not use this website.

This website contains external links to other websites and ARC is not held responsible for the privacy policies of these other websites.

Who we are and how do you contact us?

ARC Cancer Support Centres is a charity registered in Ireland (Charity No CHY 10857) ARC Cancer Support Centre is also a Limited Company registered in Ireland (Registered Charity Number 20028428) whose registered office is at 65 Eccles Street, Dublin 7, D07 TD35. In accordance with EU GDPR legislation ARC is identified as a Data Controller, however, there may be circumstances where we are also identified as a Data Processor.

If you have any questions about how we collect, store and use personal data, or if you have any other privacy-related questions, please contact us by any of the following means:

Data Protection Coordinator, ARC Cancer Support Centres

65 Eccles Street, Dublin 7
Website: www.arccancersupport.ie
Email: info@arccancersupport.ie
Telephone: + 353 1 215 0250

We do not and will not knowingly collect information from any unsupervised person under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, you must not use our website or submit any personal data to us unless you have the consent of, and are supervised by, a parent or guardian.

You may also contact the Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2. Tel No: 0761 104

What type of personal information about you do we process?

To engage with you as a service user or fundraising participant, we need to collect many categories of personal data for the purposes set out in this statement.

The exact categories may change, however we have set out the types of information that we gather and use. The category headings and types of data collected noted below are not exhaustive; these are indicative of the data we may hold about you. The information listed under one heading may be used relating to activities that are noted under another heading. Data may be gathered in relation to both you and other people whose details were provided during registration (e.g. next of kin details or details for minors).


Service User – Personal Information Name, address, date of birth, contact information, employment details, gender, diagnosis details (cancer type, treatment and consultant details), treatment history, next of kin details, and any specific details required to facilitate the provision of the appropriate services.
Fundraising participant – Personal Information Insurance Name, address, date of birth, contact information, employment details, gender, payment information in relation to donations, event attendance details.
Volunteer - Personal information Name, address, date of birth, contact information, gender, skills / qualifications, availability, next of kin details.

We collect information from you when you visit our website, register for our events or services, place an order or make a donation, subscribe to our email newsletter, or fill out a form.

When making a donation, registering for a campaign or event, or ordering a product on our website, as appropriate, you may be asked to provide personal details such as name, email address, postal address, phone number or payment information as needed.

Please note this policy does not include employee data which is covered by a separate Privacy Policy.

What is the source of your personal information?

In order to gather the personal data we need to provide you with a service or have you participate in our fundraising activities we will obtain personal information directly from you or a parent/guardian in the case of minors.

When you browse our website www.arccancersupport.ie we may ask for personal information (such as your name, email address). We may also collect information about you when you are on the internet such as the website you came from, IP address, domain types, ie, .com..co.uk, your browser type, the country where your internet service provider is located and the pages of our site that were viewed during your visit. We also collect personal information when you email us, or send an enquiry or subscribe to our newsletters and marketing activities. When gathering personal data for services, we may request details about medical information, including diagnosis details and consultant details. For fundraising activities, event organisers may pass on your details but this will also be with your explicit consent.

How do we use the information you provide us?

We use the information we receive from you to engage with you for fundraising events and activities, to provide cancer support services, to communicate with you, and to personalise information provided to you. We ask for your home, mobile telephone number, and email address to enable us to contact you in relation to an enquiry you have made, to communicate with you about services, to contact you in relation to an event or an order, or if there is another genuine reason for doing so.

We may use the personal data we gather for any or all of the following purposes.


To verify you for the purposes of volunteering to work with ARC and to perform the required Garda Vetting Processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations
To process payments, fulfil online orders and confirm transactions Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract and/or legal obligations. For example, when donating or purchasing online, or paying an event registration fee. We will use your information to complete your order and to follow up, where relevant or requested, by email, phone or post on any transactions and to issue payment receipts.
To provide you with a service Processing is necessary for the provision of the cancer support service for which you have provided explicit consent during the registration process
To manage and administer any products or services you have obtained with us Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract Processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations
For statistical analyses, satisfaction surveys and data analytics including profiling Processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests. This is for the improvement of ARC’s processes, products and services and for addressing any specific complaints.
To store and make back-ups of your data for disaster recovery purposes Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation
To comply with laws and regulations Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation
To inform you of ARC fundraising activities and events that may be of interest to you, unless you have informed us otherwise The data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes. The sending of fundraising material is only done where you have provided us with your consent
To contact you in relation to volunteering activities Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation and/or based on explicit consent from you
To let you know other ways you can get involved in our fundraising and campaigns The data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes. From time to time we will use your postal address to send you updates on the impact of your donation, and let you know how you can get involved in our fundraising and campaigns. We may also contact you by phone and email if you have given us consent to do so. We will always respect your privacy and will always give you the option to stop hearing from us.
To improve our website and provide a personal experience for you We continually try to improve our website based on the anonymous information and feedback we receive from you. We want your visit to our website to be a useful one, making sure you are able to find the information that you’re looking for and that is relevant to you.

Sensitive Data

Sometimes we may need sensitive personal data such as medical history and diagnostic details. When this is required we will process this by obtaining your explicit consent first. Where we process personal data relating to criminal convictions we will do so for the assessment of suitability of volunteers.

Effect of not providing information

If you do not provide the information that is required for assessment for services, we may not be able to offer you the services requested.

Is your information shared with any third parties?

We may share your details with selected third parties, including specialist service providers and therapists.


Your representatives This is any party you have given us permission to speak with such as a relative or other people receiving therapies or counselling services linked to you.
Our representatives Our employees, therapists, and volunteers. This includes agencies that provide services in relation to specialist therapies or counselling services, marketing campaign partners, telecommunications, payment providers, hosting/storage providers, IT security, data storage partners.
Other third parties We will occasionally pass details to third parties for the purposes of fundraising events which we run, e.g. names for table seating plans. Anonymised details are shared with organisations such as the Irish Cancer Society for statistical analysis purposes and the improvement of services.

ARC, as Data Controller, will use every effort to protect your personal data. We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information.

We also reserve the right to enforce our site policies in order to protect our rights and the rights of other individuals in a manner that is safe and compliant with the law.

Non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. For example, we may disclose the total number of visits to our website.

We also reserve the right to enforce our site policies in order to protect our rights and the rights of other individuals in a manner that is safe and compliant with the law.

Non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. For example, we may disclose the total number of visits to our website.

We may use your information for re-marketing and advertising purposes across other online channels, Facebook, Google, Twitter (etc) where your information will be kept safe and secure and not shared with any further Third Parties. At any time you can request that your personal information is not shared with these channels by emailing us at info@arccancersupport.ie


International Transfers

ARC does not pass data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

How do we protect your information?

We use a variety of security measures to securely process and keep your personal information safe.

When you interact with our website, we use a secure server so that all supplied sensitive/payment information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway provider's database (Realex Payments). When you make an online transaction,Realex Payments provide us only with the following details: the final 4 digits of your card number, the card type and the expiry date. We do not see or store your full card details when you make an online transaction.

ARC takes, and will continue to take, all reasonable steps (which includes relevant technical and organisational measures) to guarantee the safety of the data you provide to us and we will only use the data for the intended purpose.

However, the nature of the internet is such that we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us via the Internet will be 100% secure.

Links to other sites

ARC Cancer Support Centres website may contain links to other sites. Please note that ARC Cancer Support Centres is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of these sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every site that collects personally idenitfiable information.

Do we use cookies?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser (if you allow) that lets the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.

We use cookies to help us remember and process items in your shopping cart and compile anonymous data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

Our website uses Google Analytics to gather anonymous statistics about visitors to the site and which pages are visited.

If you prefer, you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies via your browser settings. Like most websites, if you turn your cookies off, some of our services may not function properly.

However, you can still make a donation, place orders, and register for our campaigns and events over the telephone on 01 215 0250.

What are your rights under data protection legislation?

ARC Cancer Support Centres is committed to upholding the rights of individuals and have processes in place for providing individuals' access to their personal information.

In accordance with current data protection legislation, The Irish Data Protection Act 2018, and EU GDPR (2018). As a data subject, you are afforded the following rights, IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. Please be aware that not “all rights” are absolute and exemptions may apply.


Right of access You have the right to obtain confirmation from us whether or not we process personal information about you and where that is the case, access to the personal data, including the purposes of the processing and the categories of personal data concerned. The recipients or categories or recipients to whom the personal information have been or will be disclosed. You may also submit a written request for a copy of personal information you believe we may be processing about you. Upon such a written request we will verify the validity request for security purposes. Your subject access request will be responded to within thirty days, however where the request is considered to be unreasonable or onerous, we will avail of the extended time period of two months. You will also be informed of any exemptions that may apply to your request for information.
Right of rectification You have the right to require ARC to correct any incorrect or inaccurate information that we hold about you. You have the right to have the personal data about you erased, in certain circumstances. You may request the deletion of your data in the follow circumstances – • The personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was originally collected and processed • If you withdraw consent, and there is no other legal basis for processing the data (for example, if you withdraw your consent for fundraising and have not been an active ARC service user for over 7 years) • If the data subject objects to the processing, and there are no legitimate grounds for the processing of the data • If the personal data has been unlawfully processed • If the personal data must be deleted for compliance with a legal obligation. We will keep a record of your request so that we know your data has been deleted and why.
Right not to be subject to Automated Individual Decision-making, including Profiling You have a right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing. ARC does not currently use automated decision making but profiling may be used to ascertain suitability of certain services and/or events
Right to Data Portability You have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a commonly used, machine readable format.
Right to Object You have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a commonly used, machine readable format. You have the right to request us to stop processing your personal data. When making this request, please outline why you want us to stop processing your personal data. We will review your request and stop processing your personal data unless we can demonstrate legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests and rights.
Right to Restrict the Processing of your Personal Data You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data in the following circumstances – • Where you believe the personal data is not accurate. This restriction will be for a period to allow us to verify the accuracy of your personal data. • Where the processing of the personal data is unlawful and you request this to be restricted, rather than erased • Where we no longer need your personal data for the purposes of processing but you require it for the establishment and exercise of a legal claim When processing is restricted, your personal data will only be processed with your consent or for the establishment and exercise of a legal claim
Right to be Forgotten You may ask us to delete your personal information, however this is not an absolute right. Any such request will be considered with regard to our legal obligations and under the legal framework of the EU General Data Protection Regulation and The Irish Data Protection Act 2018

For how long is your personal information retained by us?

Service user information may be retained by us for up to 8 years following the end of the relationship with you to ensure we meet our regulatory requirements. We are required to retain all counselling records for 7 years so our deletion cycle will be in the 8th calendar year after the end of the relationship. Fundraising information may be retained by us for up to 3 years following the end of the relationship with you. Volunteer information may be retained by us for up to 6 years following the end of the relationship.

How can you opt out of marketing communications?

If you have signed up for ARC's email newsletter, you will receive this via email a number of times annually. At any time you can unsubscribe from receiving future emails by emailing ellen@arccancersupport.ie or by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email.

Date Last Reviewed: Wednesday 15th April,2020


Subject Access Request

Under GDPR , anyone whose personal data ARC holds, can submit a Data Subject Access Request (SAR). Click below to view our policy and SAR request form.