Data Protection Notice For National Enterprise Hub  

Last Updated: 18^th April 2024 

1. THE PURPOSE OF THIS DATA PROTECTION NOTICE 

Welcome to the National Enterprise Hub. The National Enterprise Hub provides a centralised contact point for Irish businesses to learn about Government supports across a range of Government agencies. This is an initiative which is run by Enterprise Ireland on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. 

The National Enterprise Hub brings together advice and information for Irish Business from the following agencies and departments: 

• Dept of Finance 

• Dept of Social Protection 

• Design and Craft Council of Ireland 

• Fáilte Ireland 

• Food Safety Authority of Ireland 

• Foodworks 

• InterTrade 

• Local Enterprise Office 

• MicroFinance 

• SBCI 

• SEAI 

• Skillnet 

• Teagasc 

• Údarás na Gaeltachta 

This Data Protection Notice applies to Personal Data which may be processed when you engage with Enterprise Ireland via the National Enterprise Hub.   

You may find other Enterprise Ireland Data Protection notices here. 

“Personal Data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. 

This Data Protection Notice describes our approach to data protection and sets out the basis on which any Personal Data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be used by us where we are controllers of that Personal Data for the purposes of the GDPR.  Please read this Data Protection Notice carefully to understand our views and practices regarding the Personal Data we collect, as controllers under the GDPR, and how we will treat it.  

2. WHO THIS DATA PROTECTION NOTICE APPLIES TO 

This Data Protection Notice provides specific information relating to the following individuals whose Personal Data we process: 

1. contact data for businesses who engage with the supports provided by the Enterprise Hub “Business Contacts”;  

2. Website visitors “Website Visitors”. 

3. SOURCES OF PERSONAL DATA 

Business Contact Personal Data 

We collect Business Contact Personal Data from our business contacts who engage with Enterprise Hub supports. 

We source Business Contact Personal Data in order to provide the business support. We will only ever source Personal Data that is necessary and in a way that would be generally expected. 

We receive Personal Data about Business Contacts from a variety of sources, as follows: 

• the Personal Data may be provided by the Business Contact completing a web enquiry form, phoning the dedicated phone line or engaging with the live chat function; 

• the Personal Data may be collected indirectly from another person within the company of the Business Contact; 

• the Personal Data may be collected through our website; 

• the Personal Data may be collected indirectly from a website or from a third party. 

Web Data 

We may collect Website User Personal Data from all visitors to our website in order to improve our services and develop the Website. 

4. CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL DATA 

We process the following categories of Personal Data.  For each category we have included an example of the type of Personal Data that may be part of that category: 

5. OUR LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING PERSONAL DATA 

We process all Personal Data lawfully and in accordance with the requirements of the law. The GDPR sets out the legal grounds for processing Personal Data.  

When Enterprise Ireland processes Personal Data for the National Enterprise Hub it is generally on one of the following legal bases: 

PUBLIC AUTHORITY 

We will process Personal Data where necessary to perform our obligations relating to the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of an official authority vested in us. 

LEGITIMATE INTEREST 

At times we will need to process your Personal Data to pursue our legitimate business interests, for example for administrative purposes, to collect debts owing to us, to provide information to you, to expand our business opportunities, to operate, evaluate, maintain, develop and improve our websites and services or to maintain their security and protect intellectual property rights.   

We will not process your Personal Data on a legitimate interest basis where the impact of the processing on your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms outweigh our legitimate interests.  

You may object to any processing we undertake on this basis. If you do not want us to process your Personal Data on the basis of our legitimate interests, contact us at gdpronline@enterprise-ireland.com and we will review our processing activities. 

CONSENT 

For certain processing activities we may rely on your consent.  

Where we are unable to collect consent for a particular processing activity, we will only process the Personal Data if we have another lawful basis for doing so. 

You can withdraw consent provided by you at any time by contacting us at gdpronline@enterprise-ireland.com.   

LEGAL OBLIGATION 

If we have a legal obligation to process Personal Data, such as the payment of taxes, we will process Personal Data on this legal ground. 

6. OUR PROCESSING ACTIVITIES 

We use your Personal Data to provide you with our services and to assist us in the operation of our Company.  Under data protection law, we must ensure that the purpose of processing is clear. 

We have set out below the general purpose of processing, the categories of Personal Data processed and the related lawful basis for processing. 

7. RETENTION 

In some circumstances it is not possible for us to specify in advance the period for which we will retain your Personal Data. In such cases we will determine the appropriate retention period based on balancing your rights against our legitimate business interests.  We may also retain certain Personal Data beyond the periods specified herein in some circumstances such as where required for the purposes of legal claims. 

Further information about our retention practices are set out below: 

In certain cases, we may retain Personal Data for longer than specified here if required under relevant laws or in the event of any legal claim. 

 8. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL DATA 

We will disclose information including, where necessary, your contact details and the nature of your enquiry to the agencies and departments who are represented on the National Enterprise Hub including the Dept of Finance, Dept of Social Protection, Design and Craft Council of Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Foodworks, InterTrade, Local Enterprise Office, MicroFinance, SBCI, SEAI, Skillnet, Teagasc and Údarás na Gaeltachta. We will also provide these depts and agencies with aggregated reports relating to enquiries and website activity. 

In certain circumstances, we may also disclose Personal Data to third parties as follows: 

• to business partners and subcontractors for the performance of any contract relating to our services, including email, Communication Platforms, Customer Relationship Management system, web developers, payment processors, data aggregators, hosting service providers, external consultants, auditors, IT consultants and lawyers; 

• to analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of the Website; 

• if we are under a duty to disclose or share Personal Data in order to comply with any legal obligation (including tax, audit or other authorities), or in order to enforce or apply any contracts that we have; 

• to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our Business Contacts or others. This may include exchanging Personal Data with other companies and organisations for the purpose of fraud protection. When we engage another organisation to perform services for us, we may provide them with information including Personal Data, in connection with the performance of those functions. We do not allow third parties to use Personal Data except for the purpose of providing these services.  

9. TRANSFERS OUTSIDE THE EEA 

The personal data that we collect may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"), for the purposes described above. Those countries may not provide an adequate level of protection in relation to processing personal data. To the limited extent that it is necessary to transfer your personal data outside of the EEA, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the privacy and integrity of such personal data, including standard contractual clauses under Article 46.2 or adequacy decision under Article 45. Please contact us if you wish to obtain information concerning such safeguards (see Contact Us below). 

10. SECURITY MEASURES 

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal data. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal data from unauthorised access and use. As effective as modern security practices are, no physical or electronic security system is entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the complete security of our database, nor can we guarantee that information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet. We have implemented strict internal guidelines to ensure that your privacy is safeguarded at every level of our organisation. We will continue to revise policies and implement additional security features as new technologies become available. Where we have given you a password which enables you to access certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. 

Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our website. Any transmission of personal data is at your own risk. Once we receive your personal data, we use appropriate security measures to seek to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure. 

11. COOKIES 

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer or mobile device by websites that you visit, and they help us improve the products and services that we offer you. They are used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Cookies may allow a website to remember your activity over a period of time. Some cookies are optional, and you do not have to accept them.

12. THIRD PARTY WEBSITES 

Our Website may contain links to and from third party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy settings, and these are not endorsed by us.  We do not accept any responsibility or liability for these third-party websites. Please undertake the appropriate due diligence before submitting any Personal Data to these websites. 

13. YOUR RIGHTS 

You have various rights relating to how your Personal Data is used which are outlined in detail in the Enterprise Ireland Data Protection Notice. 

14. CHANGES TO THIS DATA PROTECTION NOTICE 

We reserve the right to change this Data Protection Notice from time to time at our sole discretion. If we make any changes, we will post those changes here and update the “Last Updated” date at the bottom of this Data Protection Notice. However, if we make material changes to this Data Protection Notice we will notify you by means of a prominent notice on the website prior to the change becoming effective. Please review the Data Protection Notice whenever you access or use this website. 

15. CONTACT US 

Questions, comments, requests and complaints regarding this Data Protection Notice and the personal data we hold are welcome and should be addressed to: 

Shirley Murray 
Data Protection Officer 
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Office 
Enterprise Ireland 
The Plaza 
Eastpoint Business Park 
Dublin 3 
D03 E5R6 

gdpronline@enterprise-ireland.com