Privacy Policy
How Obair Bhaile collects, uses, and protects your personal data.
Last updated: 4 March 2026
1. Who We Are
Obair Bhaile ("we", "us", "our") is an Irish home-services marketplace connecting homeowners with tradespeople. Our platform is operated from Ireland and is subject to Irish and EU data protection law, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Acts 1988–2018.
Data Controller: Obair Bhaile
Contact: info@obairbhaile.com
2. What Data We Collect
Account data
When you register, we collect your name, email address, and a hashed password via Firebase Authentication.
Profile data
Tradespeople may provide a business name, trade category, location (county/area), profile description, and photos of completed work. Homeowners may provide a name and location.
Job and messaging data
We store job request details (description, date, budget), in-app messages between homeowners and tradespeople, and booking and completion confirmation records.
Verification documents
Tradespeople may upload certification or insurance documents during onboarding. These are stored securely in Firebase Storage and are accessible only to the tradesperson and platform administrators.
Payment data
Payment processing is handled by Stripe. We do not store card numbers or bank details. We store payment state records (deposit paid, completion paid) and Stripe transaction references only.
Usage and technical data
We collect basic technical data needed to operate the service, such as authentication tokens and session information stored via Firebase. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking services.
3. Why We Use Your Data
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and managing your account | Contract performance |
| Matching homeowners with tradespeople | Contract performance |
| Processing payments via Stripe | Contract performance |
| Verifying tradesperson credentials | Legitimate interest (platform safety) |
| Maintaining audit logs for dispute resolution | Legitimate interest (legal protection) |
| Complying with Irish tax and consumer law | Legal obligation |
| Preventing fraud and abuse | Legitimate interest (security) |
4. Who We Share Data With
We do not sell your personal data. We share data only with:
- Firebase / Google Cloud — infrastructure for authentication, database, and file storage (EU data region)
- Stripe — payment processing and tradesperson payout onboarding
- Other users on the platform — trade profiles are visible to searching homeowners; job details are shared between the two parties in a job thread only
5. How Long We Keep Your Data
| Data type | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Account data | Until account deletion + 30 days |
| Job and message records | 3 years from job completion (dispute/legal window) |
| Payment records | 7 years (Revenue/tax obligation) |
| Verification documents | Duration of active account + 1 year |
| Audit logs | 3 years |
6. Your Rights
Under GDPR you have the right to:
- Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
- Erasure — request deletion of your data (subject to retention obligations above)
- Restriction — ask us to limit how we process your data
- Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
- Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interest
To exercise any of these rights, email info@obairbhaile.com with the subject line "Data Rights Request". We will respond within 30 days.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (DPC) at dataprotection.ie.
7. Cookies
We use only strictly necessary cookies — specifically, authentication session tokens set by Firebase to keep you logged in. We do not use advertising, analytics, or tracking cookies. See our Terms of Service for more.
8. Data Security
All data is stored in Google Cloud (Firebase) infrastructure. Access is controlled by role-based Firestore and Storage security rules. Sensitive documents are accessible only to the account holder and platform administrators. Audit logs are immutable and server-side only.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page will always reflect the latest version. If we make material changes we will notify registered users by email.
10. Contact
Questions about this policy or your data: info@obairbhaile.com