Last updated 11 August 2026
How Public Purse handles personal data under the GDPR and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.
Public Purse (“we”, “us”) operates the website at publicpurse.ie. We publish and index publicly available Irish public spending data so people can explore how public money is spent.
For data protection purposes, we are the controller of personal data processed through this website. Our contact address for privacy matters is privacy@publicpurse.ie.
Most of the information on Public Purse is public spending data already published by Irish public bodies — local authorities, government departments, agencies, and other organisations. That material is republished here for transparency and public interest purposes.
We are working towards indexing every line item of public spending. The dataset is incomplete and growing; presence or absence of a record does not by itself prove that spending did or did not occur.
Depending on how you use the site, we may process:
Public spending data on this site is processed because it has already been made public by the relevant body, and republishing it supports transparency and accountability in how Irish public money is spent.
Account and request data come directly from you. Spending data comes from publications and files released by Irish public bodies (and related open sources). We do not sell personal data and we do not buy marketing lists.
We use service providers that process data on our instructions, for example:
We may also disclose information if required by law, by a court or competent authority in Ireland or the EU, or to protect the rights, safety, or integrity of Public Purse, our users, or the public.
Spending data displayed on the site is public by design and may be viewed, indexed, or reused by anyone who visits the site, subject to our terms of use and applicable law.
Our primary aim is to process and host data in the EU/EEA where practicable. If a provider processes data outside the EEA, we rely on an appropriate transfer mechanism under the GDPR (such as an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses) and additional safeguards where needed.
We aim to keep cookies to a minimum. Essential cookies or local storage may be required for security, session management, or core site functions. Our analytics provider (Fathom) is chosen specifically to avoid advertising trackers and invasive profiling cookies.
Where non-essential cookies are ever introduced, we will provide appropriate information and choices in line with the ePrivacy rules as applied in Ireland.
Under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you may have the right to:
To exercise these rights in relation to account or site data we control, email privacy@publicpurse.ie. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.
If your concern relates to personal data that appears only because a public body published it in a spending file, you may also need to contact that public body. We can explain what we hold and how it was sourced, but we are not the original publisher of those records.
Public Purse is not directed at children. We do not knowingly create accounts for children under 16. If you believe a child has provided personal data to us, contact us and we will take appropriate steps.
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. No online service can guarantee absolute security.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC):
Data Protection Commission
21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28, Ireland
www.dataprotection.ie
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page will change when we do. Continued use of the site after an update means the revised policy applies to your ongoing use.
Privacy questions: privacy@publicpurse.ie