Privacy Policy

This website is operated by Maria Lucey Dietitian Limited, trading as Maria Lucey Dietitian (‘Company’, ‘we’, or ‘us’). The term ‘you’ refers to any user or viewer of our website and social media channels.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your data when you use this website, book consultations, or interact with us online.

We advise that you read this Privacy Statement to ensure that you are aware of your rights. By using this website, you are accepting the terms of this Privacy Statement. If you do not agree with, or you do not accept any aspect of the Privacy Statement, you should not use this website.

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy on the Website at any time without notice. In the event of a material change, we will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Website.

Every time you use this website you will be bound by the most recent version of the Statement. Therefore, we recommend that you should review the Privacy Statement each time you use this website.

AT A GLANCE

• We only collect personal data needed to provide services (like consultations, payments, or newsletters).
• Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain information about your personal data, and to opt out of certain uses or sharing of personal information.
• Medical records are stored securely for 8 years (or until age 21 for minors) in line with CORU standards.
• Cookies and similar technologies may be used for website functionality, analytics, advertising, and affiliate tracking. Where required, you may manage your preferences through the privacy controls provided on this Website or through your browser settings.
• Advertising on this site is managed by Raptive. Information about how data is collected and used for advertising is provided in the Advertising section below.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@marialuceyrd.com.

WHO WE ARE

My name is Maria Lucey, and I operate under Maria Lucey Dietitian. I am a Registered Dietitian with:

• CORÚ (Ireland) — Registration number DI019908
• Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI) — Member number 1449
• Bermuda Health Council — Registration number 49

We are also registered with the Data Protection Commission (DPC) in Ireland.

PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION

We take appropriate security measures to protect your data, but please be aware that transmitting information over the internet always carries some risk and may mean that your personal information is processed by third-parties. Although we will endeavour to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to our site. Any transmission of data is at your own risk. Once we receive your personal data, we will use appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorised access.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT "PERSONAL DATA"

To deliver our services and operate this website effectively, we collect only the information that is necessary. This may include:

• Website use: Information such as IP address, browser and device type, date and time of access, pages viewed, referring pages, approximate location, and interactions with the Website, which may be collected through analytics, advertising, and similar technologies.
• Cookies and similar technologies: Used for Website functionality, analytics, advertising, and affiliate tracking where applicable. See the “Cookies” section below for more information.
• Emails & Forms: Name, email, and details you provide when you contact us.
• Subscribers: When you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your name (if provided) and email address through Kit, our email marketing service provider (formerly known as ConvertKit). We use this information to send newsletters and updates you have requested. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link included in our emails.
• Clients: Information needed for consultations (contact details, diet/medical history, invoices). Explicit consent is obtained.
• Payments: Name, address, email, phone, and payment details (via PayPal and Stripe, both GDPR-compliant).
• View a co-branded offer. In this case, we will make clear as to who is collecting the information and whose privacy policy applies. If both / all parties are retaining the information you provide, this will also be made clear, as will links to all privacy policies.
• Comments: When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, the visitor’s IP address, and browser user agent string to help with spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to check if you are using it. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public alongside your comment. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

We are committed to protecting the security of your data. We do not require you to provide personal information unless you wish to avail of features or services on this website (such as making an appointment). Where you do send us data it will be used for the stated purpose and any other reasonable purposes only.

Please note that the information above (“Personal Data”) that you are giving to us is voluntarily, and by providing this information to us you are giving consent for us to use, collect and process this Personal Data.

CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT COMPLIANCE.

We do not collect any information from anyone under 18 years of age in compliance with COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of the EU). Our Website and its content is directed to individuals who are at least 18 years old or older.

Dietetic services for minors are only provided with parental consent, and their records are stored until age 21 as required by CORU.

A NOTE ON MEDIA

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

VIEWING BY OTHERS.

Note that whenever you voluntarily make your Personal Data available for viewing by others online through this Website or its content, it may be seen, collected and used by others, and therefore, we cannot be responsible for any unauthorized or improper use of the information that you voluntarily share (i.e., sharing a comment on a blog post, posting in a Facebook group that we manage, sharing details on a group coaching call, etc.).

WHAT WE DO WITH INFORMATION WE COLLECT.

You may send us information via this website, such as through the “Contact Us”, “Book an Appointment”, “Subscribe” pages or any other area where you may send e-mails, ask us to contact you or provide feedback. By choosing to participate in these, you may need to provide us with some personal information.

This information will only be used by us for the purposes for which it was provided by you and any reasonable / relevant purposes such as to:

• Provide consultations and services (contractual necessity).
• Process payments securely.
• Send newsletters and updates (with consent).
• Operate, personalize, measure, and improve advertising and social media activities, including where consent or another lawful basis is required by applicable law.
• Meet legal, professional, and tax obligations (legitimate interest/legal requirement).
• Verification purposes and statistical analysis investigate any improper use of our products, services or the network; 
• Carry out activities necessary to the running of our business, including systems testing, network monitoring, staff training and quality control.
• We use trusted third-party service providers to help operate our business and Website. These may include email and newsletter providers, payment processors, website hosting and analytics providers, advertising partners, affiliate platforms, social media platforms, and other service providers. These providers may process information on our behalf or collect information directly as described in this Privacy Policy and their own privacy policies.

DATA STORAGE & RETENTION

• General inquiries: Deleted after 1 year if no ongoing relationship.
• Medical records: Stored for 8 years (or until age 21 for minors) in line with CORU standards.
• Subscribers: Stored until you unsubscribe through our email service provider, Kit.
• Order/payment details: Stored for 10 years for tax and accounting purposes.
• Any contact I receive on social media is also handled securely and confidentially in line with the GDPR. I will delete any social media messages upon request from the individual concerned.

We use third-party service providers, including Practice Better, JotForm, Zoom, Kit, and cloud storage providers, to help us securely store and process information. We take reasonable steps to select providers with appropriate data protection and security measures and to manage personal information in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Some of our service providers may process or store personal information outside Ireland or the European Economic Area (EEA), including in the United States. Where GDPR applies, we take steps to ensure that international transfers are carried out using an appropriate legal transfer mechanism, such as an adequacy decision or Standard Contractual Clauses, where required.

CONFIDENTIALITY & SECURITY

We treat all information as confidential and secure it through:

• Password-protected devices
• Firewalls and encrypted platforms
• Restricted access only to those with a legitimate need

We may disclose information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that: (1) such action is necessary to protect and defend our property or rights or those of our users or licensees, (2) to act as immediately necessary in order to protect the personal safety or rights of our users or the public, or (3) to investigate or respond to any real or perceived violation of this Privacy Policy or of our Website Disclaimer, Terms and Conditions, or any other Terms of Use or agreement with us.

COOKIES

This Website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the Website, remember preferences, understand how visitors use the Website, measure Website performance, provide and measure advertising, and track affiliate referrals where applicable.

Some cookies and similar technologies may be placed or accessed by third-party services we use, including analytics, advertising, social media, and affiliate partners.

Where required by applicable law, we will ask for your consent before certain cookies or similar technologies are used. You may also be able to manage your privacy and advertising preferences through the privacy controls provided on this Website.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect how some parts of the Website function.

To learn more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. You can disable cookies in your browser. To opt out of Google Analytics tracking, visit: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

We use Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors use this Website and to improve its content and performance.

Google Analytics may collect information such as the pages you visit, how long you spend on the Website, your browser and device type, referring websites, interactions with the Website, and approximate location information derived from your IP address.

Google processes this information in accordance with its own privacy practices. You can learn more by reviewing the Google Privacy Policy.

You can also use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on if you would prefer to prevent Google Analytics from using your information for analytics purposes.

YOUR RIGHTS

Under GDPR and other data protection laws, you have the right to:

• Access the data we hold about you
• Correct inaccuracies
• Request deletion (where legally allowed — note: medical records must be retained for 8 years)
• Withdraw consent for marketing at any time

US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS

Depending on the state in which you live and subject to applicable law, you may have additional rights regarding your personal information. These may include the right to:

• know or request information about the personal information collected about you;
• request access to or a copy of your personal information;
• request correction of inaccurate personal information;
• request deletion of certain personal information;
• opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information or its use for targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising, where applicable; and
• not be discriminated against for exercising applicable privacy rights.

You may exercise applicable privacy rights by contacting us at info@marialuceyrd.com or by using the privacy or opt-out controls provided on this Website.

We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests. The rights available to you will depend on the law that applies in your jurisdiction.

Maria Lucey is the data controller for Maria Lucey Dietitian Limited. We will respond to valid privacy requests within the timeframes required by applicable law.

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

We work with third-party service providers to help operate our Website and provide our services, including providers such as Kit, PayPal, Stripe, Practice Better, Zoom, analytics providers, advertising providers, affiliate networks, and other technology providers. These third parties may process information in accordance with our instructions and/or their own privacy policies, depending on the service involved.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites linked from this site.

AFFILIATE LINKS

This Website may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase or complete another qualifying action, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

Affiliate networks and retailers may use cookies, tracking links, or similar technologies to determine whether a purchase or other action resulted from a link on this Website. These third parties process information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

For more information about our commercial relationships and affiliate disclosures, please see our Disclaimer & Disclosure page.

ANTI SPAM POLICY

We have a no spam policy and provide you with the ability to opt-out of our communications by selecting the unsubscribe link at the footer of all e-mails. We have taken the necessary steps to ensure that we are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 by never sending out misleading information. We do not provide your email address to third parties for the purpose of allowing them to send you their own direct email marketing, except where you have expressly agreed otherwise.