Privacy Policy

MWSG is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. You can contact us about any privacy matter using the details in section 12.

We collect only the information we need to run the group and keep members informed and safe:

• Contact and membership details — your name, mobile phone number, and (optionally) your postal address, Eircode and email address. We use these to manage your membership and to let you know about group activities. An email address is optional.
• Bereavement details — the name of the person you lost, the approximate date, and your relationship to them. We ask for this so that our volunteers can understand your circumstances and offer appropriate, sensitive support. We treat this information with particular care.
• Emergency contact (ICE) details — voluntary — if you choose to provide them, the name, phone number and relationship of someone we can contact in an emergency, for example during a trip or event. Providing ICE details is entirely optional; no one is required to give them and no one is excluded from any activity for declining.

We rely on your consent, which you give when you submit a membership or update form, and on our legitimate interest in administering the group, keeping members informed, and looking after members’ safety at events. You can withdraw your consent at any time (see section 9).

Members’ details are held in a secure, access-controlled membership database used only by authorised MWSG volunteers. The database is the master record of membership information.

To make it easier for our volunteers to contact members, we keep a set of contacts in MWSG’s own Google account (Google Contacts). An administrator can synchronise a member’s name and phone number from the membership database into these Google Contacts, where they are labelled as MWSG contacts. This synchronisation is controlled by an administrator; the database always remains the authoritative record. We also keep periodic backups of these contacts so they can be restored if needed.

MWSG’s contact synchronisation uses Google’s People API to read and update contacts within MWSG’s own Google account. MWSG’s use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Specifically:

• We access Google Contacts data only to keep MWSG’s own contact list aligned with our membership database.
• We do not sell this data, and we do not use it for advertising.
• We do not transfer it to others except as needed to provide this service, for security, or to comply with the law.
• We do not use it for any purpose unrelated to managing MWSG membership contacts.

Email: if you provide an email address, we may send you membership confirmations, a welcome pack and occasional group updates.

SMS (text message): we may use text messages for secure identity verification (for example, to confirm it is really you before updating your details) and for occasional private membership reminders. SMS is kept simple and is sent under the control of an administrator. We do not use SMS for marketing.

WhatsApp: MWSG runs its own WhatsApp groups (for example Communications, Events, Walk ’n’ Talk and Social Chat). Joining any WhatsApp group is voluntary. If you join, please be aware that your phone number and anything you post are visible to other members of that group, and that WhatsApp (owned by Meta) processes those messages under its own terms. You can leave a group at any time.

We use a small number of trusted providers to run our systems. They process information only on our instructions:

• Abacus.AI — hosting for the MWSG website and the membership database, and delivery of our email notifications.
• Google — Google Contacts (via the People API) for our contact list, and Google Drive for secure backups of that contact list.
• Twilio — delivery of secure verification codes and SMS reminders, where SMS is used.
• WhatsApp (Meta) — where you choose to take part in MWSG WhatsApp groups.

Your information is accessible only to authorised MWSG volunteers who need it to run the group — in practice, our Admin Group and Welcome Committee. Emergency contact (ICE) details are treated as particularly sensitive and are used only when genuinely needed.

The membership database is access-controlled and protected by login credentials. We limit access to those who need it, and we do not sell your information or share it with third parties for their own marketing.

Under GDPR you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct anything that is wrong or out of date;
• ask us to delete your information and remove you from the group;
• withdraw your consent to our use of your information at any time;
• object to, or ask us to restrict, certain uses of your information.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 12. When you ask to leave, we remove your details from the active membership database and from MWSG’s Google Contacts, and we ask you to leave any WhatsApp groups you joined (or we remove you where we administer the group). We may keep a minimal record of your request so we can show we acted on it.

We keep your information for as long as you are a member. If you leave or ask to be removed, we delete your personal details from the active database and contacts, keeping only the minimal record needed to confirm your request was carried out.

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed, and the current version is always available on this page.

If you have any questions about this policy or your personal information, please contact us:

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.ie) if you are unhappy with how we have handled your information.