Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
The Irish Nurse**
Effective date: 1 September 2026
Last updated: 1 September 2026
The Irish Nurse respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal data lawfully, fairly, securely and transparently.
This Privacy Policy explains how personal data is collected and used when you visit theirishnurse.ie, subscribe to updates, leave comments, use account features, communicate with us or otherwise interact with The Irish Nurse.
This policy should be read together with our Terms of Service and the cookie preferences made available through the website.
1. Who We Are
The Irish Nurse is an independent digital news and information publication focused primarily on nursing, midwifery, healthcare and related professional issues.
For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018, the data controller for personal data processed through the website is:
The Irish Nurse
Trading/publication name: The Irish Nurse
Country: Ireland
Privacy email: editorial@theirishnurse.ie
References to “The Irish Nurse”, “we”, “our” or “us” in this policy refer to that controller.
2. Scope of this Policy
This Privacy Policy covers personal data processed in connection with the operation of The Irish Nurse website and associated editorial and subscription services.
It does not govern the independent processing activities of external websites, social-media platforms, advertisers, employers, regulators or other organisations linked to from our website.
Those organisations have their own privacy policies and act as separate controllers where applicable.
3. Personal Data We May Collect
Depending on how you interact with the Service, we may process different categories of information.
Website and technical information
When you access the website, our website infrastructure and authorised service providers may process information including your Internet Protocol address, browser type, operating system, device information, referring page, pages viewed, dates and times of access, general geographical information derived from technical data, security information and server log data.
Cookie and consent information
We may process information concerning cookies and similar technologies, including your cookie consent selections and records showing when consent was provided, refused or withdrawn.
Email subscriptions
If you subscribe for new-post notifications, newsletters or other email updates, we may collect your email address, subscription status, consent information and communication preferences.
Comments
If you leave a comment, we may collect information entered into the comment form such as your name, email address, website address and comment, together with technical information such as your IP address and browser information for moderation, security and spam-prevention purposes.
Where enabled, information associated with your email address may be used by an avatar service to display a profile image.
Comment and post notifications
If you choose to receive notifications of replies, follow-up comments or new posts, we process the contact details and preferences required to provide those notifications.
Accounts
Where user-account functionality is available, we may process information including username, email address, account preferences, login/security information and other information voluntarily added to an account.
Communications and submissions
If you contact The Irish Nurse, submit a news tip, correction, story, photograph, document, job-related enquiry or other correspondence, we may process your name, contact details, message and any information you voluntarily provide.
Editorial information
As a news organisation, The Irish Nurse may process personal data contained in publicly available information, official publications, press releases, interviews, statements, court or public records where lawfully accessible, social-media posts, news reports and information provided by journalistic sources.
This may include names, professional roles, statements, photographs and other information relevant to news reporting.
4. Journalistic Processing
The Irish Nurse carries out journalism and exercises the right to freedom of expression and information.
Certain personal data may therefore be collected, researched, stored or published for journalistic and editorial purposes.
Section 43 of the Data Protection Act 2018 provides for exemptions from specified provisions of the GDPR where personal data is processed for the purpose of exercising freedom of expression and information, including journalistic purposes, and compliance with the relevant GDPR requirement would be incompatible with those purposes.
Any reliance on journalistic protections is considered in context and does not mean that all processing by The Irish Nurse is exempt from data-protection law.
Normal website activities such as email subscriptions, cookie use, account management and routine website administration remain subject to applicable data-protection requirements.
Requests concerning personal information contained in editorial material will be considered having regard to data-protection law, freedom of expression, journalistic purpose, public interest, accuracy and other applicable rights and obligations.
5. Special-Category and Confidential Information
The Irish Nurse is a healthcare-focused publication, but users should not submit confidential patient or service-user information through comments, contact facilities or other public-facing features.
Healthcare professionals must not submit information that breaches patient confidentiality, professional obligations or applicable law.
Please do not send medical records, patient-identifiable information or sensitive personal information unless we have specifically requested it and there is a lawful and appropriate reason for doing so.
Where sensitive information is submitted without being requested, we may delete, restrict or otherwise process it where reasonably necessary for security, moderation, legal compliance, journalism or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
6. Why We Process Personal Data and Our Legal Bases
We process personal data only where an appropriate legal basis or other lawful justification applies.
Operating and securing the website
Technical information, logs and security data may be processed to operate the website, prevent abuse, diagnose technical problems and protect the security of the Service.
The legal basis will generally be our legitimate interests in operating a secure and reliable publication and, where relevant, compliance with legal obligations.
Email subscriptions
Where you actively subscribe for email updates, we normally rely on your consent to process your email address for that purpose.
You can withdraw consent at any time.
Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn.
Comments
Information supplied in comments may be processed for the purpose of publishing, moderating, securing and administering website discussions.
Depending on the processing involved, we may rely on our legitimate interests in operating an interactive publication, your request that we publish the comment, applicable consent or legal obligations.
Separate consent may be used where you request email notifications.
Accounts
Account information may be processed where necessary to provide account functionality requested by you and for our legitimate interests in administering and protecting the Service.
Cookies and analytics
Strictly necessary technologies may be used where permitted without consent.
Where consent is legally required for analytics, preferences, advertising or similar non-essential technologies, we rely on the consent obtained through our cookie-management system.
Communications
When you contact us, we process your information to respond to the communication, investigate the matter or take action requested by you.
The applicable basis may include legitimate interests, consent, steps taken at your request before entering a contract, legal obligations or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Editorial and journalistic activities
Personal data used for journalism may be processed in connection with freedom of expression and information and applicable provisions of Irish and European data-protection law, including section 43 of the Data Protection Act 2018 where its requirements are satisfied.
Legal obligations and claims
Information may be processed where necessary to comply with law, respond to a lawful request, protect legal rights, prevent fraud or abuse, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
7. Cookies and Similar Technologies
The website uses cookies and similar technologies for functions including website operation, preference management, audience measurement and, where applicable, advertising or marketing.
Our cookie-management system separates technologies into categories such as:
**Functional or strictly necessary technologies** required for essential website functions;
**Preference technologies** that remember choices or settings;
**Statistics technologies** used to understand how visitors interact with the website; and
**Marketing technologies** that may be used for advertising, measurement or related purposes.
Where required by law, we request consent before activating non-essential cookies or similar technologies.
Visitors can accept, reject or manage relevant categories using the website’s consent-management controls and can subsequently change their preferences through the “Manage Consent” facility.
Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
The current vendors and purposes associated with cookies should be identified through the website’s cookie-preference interface or associated Cookie Policy.
8. Email Subscriptions and Direct Communications
If you subscribe to receive new articles or other email updates, your email address is used for the subscription you requested.
Where communications constitute electronic direct marketing, we will obtain consent where required by applicable law and provide an appropriate method of opting out.
You can unsubscribe using the link or mechanism contained in relevant emails or contact us at subscriptions@theirishnurse.ie.
We may retain limited information necessary to record an unsubscribe request so that we can respect that preference.
Comments, Avatars and Spam Prevention
When visitors leave comments, information provided in the comment form may be processed together with technical information such as the visitor’s IP address and browser details for purposes including moderation and spam detection.
If an avatar service is enabled, a pseudonymised or hashed representation associated with an email address may be provided to that service to determine whether an avatar is associated with the account.
Comments approved for publication may remain publicly visible together with the public name chosen by the commenter.
Users should therefore avoid including private, confidential or sensitive information within comments.
10. Who We May Share Personal Data With
We do not sell personal data for money.
Where necessary for the purposes described in this policy, personal data may be processed by carefully selected service providers or disclosed to appropriate recipients including:
website hosting and infrastructure providers;
content-management and WordPress-related service providers;
email subscription and email-delivery providers;
security, anti-spam and fraud-prevention services;
analytics providers where enabled and consented to;
advertising or measurement providers where enabled and consented to;
cookie-consent management providers;
IT and technical support providers;
professional advisers such as solicitors, accountants or insurers;
courts, regulators, law-enforcement bodies or public authorities where disclosure is lawfully required; and
a purchaser, successor or adviser involved in a legitimate restructuring, merger, sale or transfer of the publication or relevant assets.
Service providers processing personal data on our behalf are expected to handle it in accordance with applicable contractual and data-protection requirements.
11. Social Media, Sharing Buttons and Embedded Content
Articles may contain links, sharing facilities or embedded material relating to services such as Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Telegram or other third-party websites.
When you interact with a third-party service, that provider may receive technical or personal information and may use cookies or similar technologies in accordance with its own policies.
Where an embedded technology requires non-essential tracking, we aim to apply the website’s consent controls where legally required.
Third-party platforms determine their own processing activities and privacy practices independently from The Irish Nurse.
12. International Data Transfers
Some technology providers may process personal data outside Ireland or the European Economic Area.
Where GDPR applies to such transfers, we will rely on an appropriate transfer mechanism where required, which may include an adequacy decision, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or another legally recognised safeguard.
Additional safeguards may be used where required by applicable law.
13. How Long We Retain Personal Data
Personal data is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and for applicable security, legal, regulatory, journalistic or record-keeping requirements.
Retention depends on the type of data and the reason for processing.
Subscription information may generally be retained for the duration of the subscription, with limited information retained where necessary to honour an unsubscribe request.
Published comments and associated moderation information may remain for as long as the relevant discussion or article remains available or where retention is reasonably required for moderation, security or legal purposes.
Account information may be retained while an account remains active and for an appropriate period afterwards where necessary for security, legal or administrative reasons.
Website and security logs are retained according to technical and security requirements and are not kept longer than reasonably necessary.
Correspondence may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to respond, maintain appropriate business records or deal with disputes.
Cookie-consent records may be retained where necessary to demonstrate or manage consent.
Editorial archives may be retained for journalistic, historical, public-interest or archival purposes subject to applicable law.
Backup copies may remain for a limited additional period before being overwritten or deleted.
14. Your Data-Protection Rights
Subject to applicable law and any relevant exemptions or restrictions, individuals may have the right to:
request access to personal data held about them;
request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
request deletion of personal data in appropriate circumstances;
request restriction of processing;
object to certain processing based on legitimate interests;
object at any time to processing for direct-marketing purposes;
request data portability where applicable;
withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
raise a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.
These rights are not absolute and may be restricted in particular circumstances, including where applicable law, legal claims, freedom of expression or journalistic protections apply.
Requests may be sent to: subscriptions@theirishnurse.ie
We may need to request sufficient information to verify identity before responding to certain requests.
15. Editorial Privacy and Removal Requests
A request to erase personal data does not automatically require removal of a legitimate news article or journalistic archive.
Where a request concerns editorial material, we will consider the particular circumstances, including the nature of the information, accuracy, passage of time, public interest, the person’s role, journalistic purpose, freedom of expression and applicable data-protection law.
Where appropriate, correction, updating, anonymisation, search-indexing measures or other proportionate remedies may be considered instead of deletion.
16. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, destruction or loss.
However, no internet transmission or information-storage system can provide absolute security.
Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any account credentials they use.
17. Children
The Irish Nurse is principally intended for adults and healthcare professionals and is not specifically directed at children under 16.
We do not knowingly seek consent-based personal data from children under 16 through services directed specifically to children.
Where we become aware that personal data has been collected in circumstances requiring parental or guardian consent and such consent has not been obtained, appropriate steps will be taken.
18. Automated Decision-Making
The Irish Nurse does not currently use personal data to make solely automated decisions that produce legal effects or similarly significant effects on website users.
If this changes materially, this Privacy Policy will be updated as required.
19. External Websites
The Irish Nurse frequently links to official sources and third-party websites.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices or security of external websites.
Users should review the privacy information provided by any external service they use.
20. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy where our services, technologies, providers, editorial activities or legal obligations change.
The latest version will be published on The Irish Nurse and the “Last updated” date will be revised.
Material changes may be highlighted through the website or another appropriate method where required.
21.Contact Us
Questions, concerns and requests concerning personal data can be sent to:
The Irish Nurse
Ireland
Privacy email: editorial.theirishnurse.ie