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Offaly Co.Council Apology To Property Owners After Email Blunder

Thursday, 8 July 2010

OFFALY County Council has apologised after releasing the email addresses of hundreds of people who own second houses and apartments in Offaly.
The local authority owned up to the blunder after shocked landlords reported the matter to the Data Protection Commissioner last Friday.
The council was making contact with over 500 residential property owners on its database to remind them that the €200 annual tax was due on June 30.
However, a staff member accidentally sent the email addresses of all the recipients along with the reminder from the council.
This immediately prompted complaints to the Data Protection watchdog and one recipient brought what he described as a 'cock-up' to the attention of the Tribune on Friday morning.
By lunchtime the council had emailed to the property owners again - this time with an apology.
In the apology, Declan Conlon, the council's head of finance, said the email addresses were inserted into the 'To' field of the email instead of the 'Bcc' field 'due to human error'.
'This meant that all email addresses were visible to all recipients and this was not our intention. No financial or individual property details were disclosed in the email.  The purpose of the email was to remind property owners of the payment deadline,' said Mr Conlon.
'Offaly County Council wishes to apologise for the disclosure of the email addresses of all recipients in the email. We regret any inconvenience or upset caused as a result of the above. This apology has been circulated to all recipients of the original email,' he added.
Mr Conlon said a member of staff had sent the email but would not be subjected to disciplinary action.
He said the council had reported the matter to the Data Protection Commissioner once they became aware of it.
Despite the apology, Gary Davis, the deputy Data Protection Commissioner said an investigation would be taking place and he said that such information should not have been disclosed.
'What we're interested in now is what they're going to do to ensure it doesn't recur in the future,' said Mr Davis.
One recipient of the email said what had happened was 'an absolute disgrace' and said information about the ownership of property should be private.
'It's a personal thing. It's not something you'd broadcast out. If it's to be paid, it's to be paid but it shouldn't be shown up,' the property owner told the Tribune.
The non principal private residence tax was introduced in 2009 and immediately sparked a controversy after a false claim that mobile homes would be subject to the tax.
Owners of holiday homes and investment properties must register and pay the tax and most of the Offaly property owners had supplied the County Council with their email addresses.
By late last year about €54 million had been collected across the country and in Offaly €463,000 was paid.
According to a report from Mr Conlon prepared last December for the council's 2010 budget, the local authority had processed 500 payments 'at a local level' by then.
'In addition to date we have dealt with 425 queries from the public regarding the rules/eligibility for payment etc,' said the report.
Property owners are liable for the €200 tax if they own a property, other than their principal private residence, for one day in a year.
The date for 2009 was July 31 and the date for this year was March 31. The tax must be paid within three months, hence this year's June 30 deadline.
Private rented properties are liable for the tax but empthy houses in so-called 'ghost estates', which are new but remain unsold and were never used as a dwelling, will not incur the charge.
Where houses are divided into flats or bedsits, the €200 must be paid for each individual unit.
Granny flats, even if they are two kilometres away from the main dwelling, are not liable for the tax.
Those who failed to pay by July 1 will have to pay a penalty of €20 each month they are late, on top of the €200.

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