Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

At Irish Routes, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, and your rights in relation to your personal data.

We handle personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable Irish data protection legislation.

1. Who we are

Irish Routes is a bespoke travel company based in Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland.

For the purposes of data protection law, Irish Routes, operated by Meg MacMahon as a sole trader, is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, you can contact us at:

Email:info@irishroutes.com
Location: Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland

2. Information we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect personal information including:

  • Your name

  • Email address

  • Telephone number

  • Country of residence

  • Information about your travel plans and preferences

  • Information about other travellers included in your enquiry or booking

  • Information you provide through our website, enquiry forms, emails, telephone calls or consultations

  • Records of our communications with you

  • Marketing preferences

If you choose to book a journey with Irish Routes, we may also need additional information in order to arrange and manage your travel. This may include:

  • Passport information, where required

  • Dates of birth

  • Dietary requirements

  • Accessibility or mobility requirements

  • Relevant health or medical information where necessary to safely arrange a service you have requested

  • Emergency contact details

  • Information required by accommodation providers, transport providers, car hire companies, guides or experience providers

  • Booking, payment and transaction information

We will only request personal information that is reasonably necessary to respond to your enquiry, arrange your journey, fulfil our contractual obligations or provide the services you have asked us to deliver.

If you provide personal information about another traveller, you should ensure that they are aware that their information will be provided to Irish Routes and used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

3. How we use your information

We may use your personal information to:

  • Respond to your enquiries

  • Understand your travel preferences and requirements

  • Design, arrange and manage your bespoke itinerary

  • Make and manage reservations with accommodation providers, transport providers, guides, experience providers and other travel partners

  • Communicate with you before, during and after your trip

  • Provide assistance during your journey

  • Process and record payments and issue invoices

  • Manage amendments, cancellations, refunds or complaints

  • Maintain appropriate business and financial records

  • Improve our services and customer experience

  • Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

  • Protect our legitimate business interests and prevent fraud or misuse

  • Send travel inspiration, news and updates where you have chosen to receive marketing communications from us

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us directly.

4. Our legal basis for using your information

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may process your information because:

It is necessary to perform a contract with you or take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
For example, when responding to an enquiry, designing your itinerary, making bookings or managing your journey.

We have a legal obligation to do so.
For example, where we are required to retain certain financial, tax or transaction records.

It is in our legitimate interests.
For example, to operate and improve Irish Routes, maintain appropriate business records, respond to correspondence, protect our business and understand how our services are used, provided those interests do not override your rights and freedoms.

You have given us your consent.
For example, where you choose to subscribe to our marketing communications or where consent is the appropriate basis for processing certain sensitive information.

5. Sensitive personal information

Occasionally, arranging your journey may require you to provide information that is considered particularly sensitive under data protection law. This may include information about health, accessibility requirements, allergies or dietary requirements that reveal information about your health or religious beliefs.

We will only request this information where it is relevant to your travel arrangements and will process it only where we have an appropriate legal basis to do so, including your explicit consent where required.

We will only share sensitive information with a supplier where it is necessary for them to safely or appropriately provide a service you have requested.

You do not have to provide this information, but in some circumstances this may affect our ability to arrange a particular service or meet a specific requirement.

6. Sharing your information

To arrange and manage your journey, we may need to share relevant personal information with trusted third-party suppliers.

These may include:

  • Hotels and other accommodation providers

  • Chauffeurs, drivers and transport providers

  • Car hire companies

  • Guides

  • Experience and activity providers

  • Restaurants or other hospitality providers where necessary

  • Other travel suppliers involved in delivering your itinerary

We only share the information reasonably necessary for a supplier to provide the service being arranged.

We may also share personal information with companies that help us operate Irish Routes, such as:

  • Payment and banking providers

  • Website and hosting providers

  • Email and communications providers

  • IT and cloud storage providers

  • Accounting and bookkeeping providers

  • Professional advisers, insurers and legal advisers

  • Government, regulatory or law enforcement authorities where required by law

Some suppliers will process your information on our behalf, while others may act as independent data controllers and process your information under their own privacy policies.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

7. International transfers

Irish Routes is based in Ireland, but some of the technology and service providers we use may process or store personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Where personal information is transferred outside the EEA, we take appropriate steps to ensure that it receives an adequate level of protection in accordance with applicable data protection law. This may include relying on an adequacy decision by the European Commission or approved contractual safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

Where we arrange travel services that require personal information to be transferred outside the EEA, we will only transfer information necessary to arrange or provide the relevant service and will do so in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

8. Payments

Payments may be processed through banks or third-party payment providers.

Where you make a payment through a third-party payment provider, that provider may collect and process your payment information in accordance with its own privacy policy.

Irish Routes does not store complete payment card details where payments are processed by an external payment provider.

9. How we protect your information

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful loss, alteration, unauthorised access, misuse or disclosure.

These measures include using reputable technology and service providers, restricting access to personal information where appropriate and maintaining appropriate security practices.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we regularly consider the information we hold and the measures appropriate to protecting it.

10. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including satisfying legal, accounting, tax and regulatory requirements.

In general:

  • Enquiries that do not result in a booking will be retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to manage the enquiry and any subsequent correspondence.

  • Booking and transaction records may be retained for the period required to meet our legal, tax, accounting, insurance and contractual obligations.

  • Information required solely to fulfil your journey, particularly sensitive information such as health or accessibility details, will not be retained for longer than reasonably necessary once the journey and any related matters have concluded.

  • Marketing information will be retained until you unsubscribe, withdraw your consent or we determine that it is no longer appropriate to retain it.

We may retain certain information for longer where reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

11. Marketing communications

We will only send you marketing communications where we have an appropriate legal basis to do so.

Where you have subscribed to receive travel inspiration, news and updates from Irish Routes, you can change your mind at any time.

Every marketing email will include an unsubscribe option, or you can contact us at info@irishroutes.com and ask to be removed from our marketing list.

Unsubscribing from marketing will not affect communications that are necessary to manage an enquiry or booking.

12. Your rights

Under data protection law, you may have the right to:

  • Request access to the personal information we hold about you

  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information

  • Request deletion of your personal information in certain circumstances

  • Request that we restrict the processing of your information

  • Object to certain types of processing

  • Withdraw consent where we rely on consent to process your information

  • Request a copy of certain information in a portable format

  • Lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission

These rights are subject to certain legal limitations and may not apply in every circumstance.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@irishroutes.com.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (DPC), Ireland's supervisory authority for data protection.

13. Cookies and website information

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate correctly and, where you consent, to help us understand how visitors use our website.

Necessary cookies may be used without your consent where they are required for the website or a service you have requested to function. Non-essential analytics and performance cookies are restricted unless you choose to accept them.

When you visit our website, you can accept all cookies, decline non-essential cookies or manage your individual cookie preferences. You can change your preferences at any time using the Cookie Preferences control available on our website.

For more information about the cookies we use, their purposes and how long they remain on your device, please see our Cookie Policy.

14. Third-party websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties.

Irish Routes is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external websites you visit.

15. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, business practices, technology or legal requirements.

The latest version will always be available on our website and the date of the most recent update will be shown at the top of this page.

16. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, would like to exercise your data protection rights or have concerns about how your personal information is handled, please contact:

Irish Routes
Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland
Email:info@irishroutes.com