Privacy Statement

Effective Date: 05/09/2024

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland (“MS Ireland”) is a charity, registered in Ireland as CHY05365, with its head office at 80 Northumberland Road, Dublin 4, Ireland, email: [email protected].

You should know what information we collect and how we use it.

The objectives for which MS Ireland exists are:

• To facilitate people with MS to control their lives and environment, to live with dignity, and participate in the community.
• To provide support for the families and carers of people with MS.
• To co-operate with the medical, scientific, social, and caring professions to promote scientific research into the cause of, cure for, and management of MS, and the alleviation of medical and social symptoms.
• To exchange and disseminate information relating to MS.
• To provide an identifiable focal point by developing an efficient, effective, and caring organisation to serve the needs of people with MS.

MS Ireland is committed to protecting the privacy of people who use our services, employment candidates and current employees, contacts, fundraisers, business partners, and other third parties we deal with, such as family members.

This Privacy Statement details how MS Ireland collects, uses, discloses, transfers, and stores your personal information. It applies to personal data about you that we collect, use, and otherwise process in connection with your relationship with MS Ireland, including your use of the renewmsireland.ie microsite.

MS Ireland as Controller of Your Personal Data

MS Ireland operates from its headquarters in Northumberland Road in Dublin. Any personal information processed by MS Ireland in connection with this Privacy Statement is ultimately controlled by MS Ireland as the “data controller” as provided under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the Irish Data Protection Acts, 1988 to 2018, and the Data Protection Commission (DPC) Guideline for the Charity and Voluntary Sector.

You may request information about the personal data that MS Ireland holds about you by emailing us at [email protected] or writing to us at 80 Northumberland Road, Dublin 4,  D04 T856 Ireland.

Please note that throughout this Privacy Statement the word “website” refers to renewmsireland.ie.

Collection and Processing of Your Personal Data

Information Collected by Using renewmsireland.ie

1. You are not required to provide any personal information to access public areas of the renewmsireland.ie website.
2. However, when you visit renewmsireland.ie, we record your IP address and details of your visit, including the date and time. An IP address is an assigned number, similar to a telephone number, which allows your computer to communicate over the internet. In addition to your IP address, the following technical information will also be collected: your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, information about your visit including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), click stream to, through, and from the website (including date and time), pages viewed, download errors, page interaction information (such as scrolling clicks), and methods used to browse away from the website.
3. MS Ireland uses this IP information for its legitimate interests to compile statistical data on the use of our website and to track how users navigate through our website in order to enable us to evaluate and improve user experience..
4. XWERX, a website design company in Dublin, Ireland, acts as a data processor for MS Ireland in relation to the renewmsireland.ie website. In this capacity, XWERX has sight of data regarding: donations, the personal information of donors (including names, addresses, email addresses), enquiries, and pledges.
5. When you decide to purchase, pledge, or book a call for a capital item on renewmsireland.ie, we will collect personal information necessary to process your request. This may include your name, email address, phone number, postal address, and payment details, along with any other information you provide during the transaction process.

Contact Salesforce Database

1. We may retain information you have provided us with in MS Ireland’s contact database. Information that we typically hold in our database includes:

1. • Your contact information, including your name; job title; organisation’s name; address; phone number(s); email address(es); and other identification information.
   • The area(s) that you have an interest in.
   • Historical fundraising activity for MS Ireland.
2. Once your details are included in MS Ireland’s contact database, we may also record details of any:
   • MS Ireland’s mailing lists you have subscribed to or unsubscribed from.
   • Mailings (including services updates and event invitations) we have sent you.
   • Hyperlinks you have clicked in any mailing that we have sent you.
   • Meetings we have held with you.
3. From time to time, we may ask you by email to review your contact details and preferences, and update them as necessary. This not only helps us to keep the contact information we hold about you up-to-date, but it also ensures that we only send you information that you have requested and/or is relevant to you.

Interactions with MS Ireland

We retain personal information relating to interactions between MS Ireland and people who use our services, clients, job applicants and current employees, contacts, and business partners, including information relating to the services that we provide. We only retain information that is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Statement.

Processing of Your Personal Information

1. MS Ireland, through renewmsireland.ie, will only collect and process personal information where it has a legal basis for doing so. When personal information is processed, the basis of processing will be in accordance with relevant Irish and EU data privacy laws, our legal obligations, and to meet our information security requirements.
2. MS Ireland uses personal information that we have collected from you in order to:
   • Provide you with a more tailored and effective service and/or care.
   • Perform analysis aimed at improving our products, services, and technologies for people with MS.
   • Communicate with you through certain mandatory service communications such as welcome letters, appointment reminders, and our terms and conditions.
   • Communicate with you in connection with any services that we are providing to you and otherwise perform the services for you that you have engaged us to provide.
   • Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and applicable law.
   • Provide updates and newsletters, including our MS News magazine by mail and our electronic newsletter.
   • Carry out administrative purposes, which may include, for example, accounting and billing, auditing, and identification checking.
   • Undertake systems testing, maintenance, and development in order to ensure network and information security.
   • Let you know ways you can get involved in our fundraising and campaigns.
   • When you are making a donation, purchasing, pledging, or booking a call for a capital item on renewmsireland.ie, you may be asked to provide personal details such as name, email address, postal address, phone number, or payment information was needed.
   • Prevent fraud.
   • Market our services and products to you where MS Ireland has a legitimate interest or you have consented to us doing so and in accordance with your preferences.
3. MS Ireland will only collect, use, and otherwise process information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, or relating to your health or sexual orientation or otherwise which is treated by applicable data protection laws as a “sensitive” or “special” category of personal information, where and only to the extent that you have given your explicit consent unless we are otherwise permitted or required to collect, use, and process such information under applicable data protection laws, including but not limited to where this is necessary in connection with providing our agreed services to you.
4. Any data collection that is optional will be made clear to you. However, MS Ireland may need to collect and process personal information for certain legal compliance purposes or in order to perform certain services for you, including compliance with legal requirements