Privacy Policy

Last updated: 15 October 2026

1. Who We Are

TouringCork is a sole trader walking tour business based in Cork, Ireland, operated by Patrick Murphy. Our registered business name is TouringCork (CRO Business Name Registration: 786146). We operate guided walking tours in Cork city and associated experiences.

You can contact us at:

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Acts 1988–2018, TouringCork is the data controller in respect of the personal data we collect about you.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

2.1 When you make a booking

When you book a tour through our website or through a third-party platform (such as Viator, GetYourGuide, TripAdvisor Experiences, or Airbnb), we collect:

  • Your name
  • Your email address
  • The number of guests in your party
  • Optional information you choose to provide, such as areas of interest or accessibility requirements
  • Payment information — processed securely by Stripe or the relevant third-party platform. We do not store card details

2.2 When you contact us

If you send us an enquiry by email or through the enquiry form on our private tours page, we collect your name, email address, and what you tell us: your preferred dates, group size, interests and any access needs. If you give us your phone number or message us on WhatsApp to arrange a tour, we hold your number and those messages too.

2.3 Website usage data

Our website (hosted on Squarespace) may collect standard technical data such as your IP address, browser type, and pages visited, through cookies and analytics tools. Please see Section 7 on cookies for further detail.

2.4 When you buy from our shop or send a tip

If you purchase a digital download from our shop, Squarespace collects your name, email address, and billing address to process the order and deliver your files. If you claim a free book or leave a tip, we receive your email address (for the book) or a Stripe payment record (for the tip). We do not store card details.

2.5 When you buy a Homeplace map

Squarespace collects your name, email, phone if you give it, and billing and delivery addresses to take the order. For a personalised map we also keep what you type into the order form: names, places, dates, a dedication, a line for the foot of the map or a gift message. If you send a set enquiry, we keep your message and any file you upload. Patrick Murphy, trading as Homeplace Maps and TouringCork, is the controller for this data.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data only for the following purposes:

  • To process and manage your booking, including sending confirmation and reminder emails
  • To contact you about your booking if we need to cancel or reschedule a tour
  • To invite you to leave a review after your tour, in person via a printed card and through our booking platform
  • To respond to enquiries you send us
  • To comply with our legal and tax obligations as a sole trader registered with Revenue Ireland

We do not use your data for unsolicited marketing. We do not build mailing lists or send newsletters without your explicit opt-in.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We rely on the following legal bases under GDPR Article 6:

  • Contract performance — processing your booking, delivering your tour, and fulfilling shop orders
  • Legal obligation — maintaining financial records as required by Irish law
  • Legitimate interests — inviting you to leave a review after your tour, which is reasonably expected and low-intrusion; and protecting the safety of our guests on tour
  • Consent — where you have explicitly opted in to any additional communication

5. Who We Share Your Data With

We share your data only where necessary:

  • Bókun — our booking management platform (data processed in accordance with their own privacy policy)
  • Stripe — our payment processor (PCI DSS compliant; they do not share your card details with us)
  • Viator, GetYourGuide, TripAdvisor Experiences, Airbnb — if you book through one of these platforms, their own privacy policies apply to data you provide them directly
  • Google Workspace — we use Gmail and Google Drive for business communications and record-keeping
  • Google Analytics and Google Ads: only if you accept cookies, to measure visits and the results of our ads (see Section 7)
  • WhatsApp: if you choose to message us there
  • Anthropic (Claude): we use this AI assistant to help draft replies and keep booking notes, so it processes the details you send us on our behalf
  • Booking agents and resellers — if you bought your ticket through one of our partners (for example a hotel desk or DoDublin), we receive the details needed to honour your booking, and their own privacy policy applies to what you gave them directly
  • Our print partners, currently Printful, Prodigi and PrintShrimp. They receive your name, delivery address, and email or phone for the courier, plus the print file, so they can make and deliver your order. Section 5.1 covers data leaving the EU.
  • Etsy: if you buy a Homeplace map on Etsy, Etsy's own privacy policy covers what you give Etsy, and Etsy passes us your name, address and order so we can make and send it.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party for marketing purposes.

5.1 When your data leaves the EU

Some of the companies above handle data outside the EU:

  • Google, Stripe, Anthropic and WhatsApp (Meta) can move data to the US under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the EU's Standard Contractual Clauses.
  • Our print partners may make and deliver your order outside the EU. Your details then go only to a country the EU treats as giving adequate protection, or under the EU's Standard Contractual Clauses in a data processing agreement with us.

For a copy of these safeguards, email info@touringcork.com or hello@homeplace.ie.

6. How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain your booking data for six years from the end of the Irish tax year in which your tour or purchase took place, in line with our obligations under Irish tax law (Revenue requires retention of financial records for six years from the end of the relevant tax year).

Enquiry emails that do not result in a booking are deleted within 12 months.

Free-book request emails are deleted within 12 months unless you opt in to hear from us again.

Private-tour enquiries, phone numbers and WhatsApp messages are deleted within 12 months of your tour or your last message, unless they form part of a booking record we must keep.

Homeplace order records follow the six-year rule above. Proofs and approval emails stay with the order record. We delete personalised print files once your order has arrived and the return period has closed, and files uploaded with a set enquiry within 12 months of the order or the last message.

You may request earlier deletion of your personal data, subject to our legal retention obligations — see Section 8.

7. Cookies

Our website uses three kinds of cookies:

  • Essential cookies: Squarespace, our website platform, sets these so the site and the shop checkout work. They need no consent.
  • Analytics cookies: Squarespace Analytics and Google Analytics count visits and show which pages people read. They hold no name or email address.
  • Advertising cookies: Google Ads uses these to tell us whether someone who clicked one of our ads went on to book or buy. Google may also use them to choose which ads to show you.

We set analytics and advertising cookies only if you choose "Accept all", or switch them on under "Manage cookies", in the banner at the bottom of the page. If you choose "Decline all" or make no choice, they stay off. To change your choice later, clear the cookies for touringcork.ie in your browser and the banner will ask you again. Google's own privacy policy covers what Google does with analytics and advertising data: policies.google.com/privacy.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject under GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
  • Right to rectification — to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
  • Right to erasure — to ask us to delete your data, subject to legal retention requirements
  • Right to restriction — to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances
  • Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
  • Right to object — to object to processing based on our legitimate interests
  • Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@touringcork.com. We will respond within one month.

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your request, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission of Ireland:

  • Website: www.dataprotection.ie
  • Phone: +353 57 868 4800
  • Post: Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28

9. Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. Our booking platform and payment processor use industry-standard encryption. Our business email is hosted on Google Workspace, which provides enterprise-grade security.

No method of transmission over the internet is entirely secure. In the event of a data breach that poses a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the Data Protection Commission within 72 hours and notify you directly where required by law.

10. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, including our booking platforms and social media profiles. This privacy policy applies only to touringcork.ie. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party sites and encourage you to read their policies.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The date at the top of this document reflects when it was last revised. Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this policy or about how we handle your personal data, please contact:

TouringCork

info@touringcork.com

www.touringcork.ie

Cork, Ireland