The GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”) is designed to protect people's privacy. The 2018 Act confers rights on individuals in relation to the privacy of their personal data as well as responsibilities on those persons holding and processing such data. 

Personal data means data relating to a living person who is or can be identified from the data itself or in conjunction with other information that is in, or is likely to come into, the possession of the Authority. This data can be held on computers or in manual files. 

You may use request a copy of personal information relating to you, which is held by the Authority. You right of access under the GDPR and the 2018 Act applies only to your own personal information.

An application for access to personal information may be made by post, electronically or by telephone. Alternatively you can complete the web request form. Please note, however, that we may require you to provide additional information necessary to confirm your identity. Your request should be as specific as possible, to quickly identify if the particular data is held and where it is held. We have a DSAR form on our website that asks some questions to help us provide as much information as possible to you. There is no obligation to fill out this form, but it does help speed up our replies to you if you fill out the form. I the form, we ask questions about the information you know about people you are trying to connect with or learn information about. Part of this process is helping us to establish whether you know if the people you are connecting with are still alive or not. Where a person is deceased, the 2018 Act does not apply to them. While this factor alone does not determine if data can be shared with you in all cases, it may mean that personal information in relation to that person can be shared to you. For this reason, if you know that a contact is deceased, please share confirmation of that with us by producing a death certificate or confirmation that the person is deceased through a copy RIP.ie search.

 
A response to an access request will issue as soon as is possible. Where possible, we respond to DSARs within one month. Where necessary, we respond within three months.

The GDPR and the 2018 Act sets out a small number of circumstances in which the right to access personal records can be limited. This is necessary in order to strike a balance between the rights of the individual, on the one hand, and some important needs of civil society, on the other hand. Case law and other legal factors may also be relevant to the consideration of your request. For example, where a birth parent has refused to consent to the sharing of their data, or where the disclosure of data may, on balance, have an adverse effect on an individual involved, the data may be withheld.