Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small piece of data sent by a website's server to the browser on your computer or mobile device. Cookies help us to recognise and remember your device when you visit our websites and enable us to retrieve, among other things, your preferences.

We use cookies for a variety of business purposes including:

For the operation of our website and Services

To improve your user experience. By remembering your preferences and settings we can make it easier and faster to navigate through our website

To simplify any sign-in procedures

To provide you with content if you have not subscribed

To log your use of our website and services so that we can understand which content you find useful or interesting

To support our advertising services

To determine the effectiveness of promotional campaigns, email campaigns and advertising

To ensure content from our site and mobile applications is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your device.

To provide social media features such as liking and sharing our content

We use different types of cookies to run our website and Services including:

Strictly Necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, filling in forms or accessing content without a subscription. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Users may access a limited amount of content without subscribing to our subscription services. The amount of content which can be accessed without a subscription is at all times at our discretion.

Functional cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or third party providers.  We may embed video, audio, tweets and other content in our articles and pages.  We do not control which cookies are set by third parties or how the cookie information is used. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. Some third party functional cookies may track your browser across other sites and build up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other sites you visit.

Performance cookies

Analytical cookies help us to understand how visitors gain access to or read our content and interact with our Services. We collect statistical information about our visitors, such as whether they have visited the site before and the pages they view. We use these cookies to determine the kind of content and services our visitors value most, which in turn helps us to improve our website and its content. By understanding which content you find useful or interesting, we can recommend more content that you might like, as well as continuing to produce the most valuable content to meet your needs. Analytical cookies are set by us and by third parties, including Comscore and Google Analytics.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. On this website you’ll find information about a browser plug-in that can be installed to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics.

Targeting cookies

To help fund the content, products and services we provide, third-party vendors, including Google, display advertising on our Services. These cookies may be set through our advertising partners.

Third-party vendors use cookies to:

* Help show ads that are relevant to you based on inferred interests. This is often called online behavioural advertising (OBA)

* Restrict the number of times you see the same ad (frequency capping)

* Create a browsing profile that is used to deliver more relevant ads

* Measure the effectiveness of the ads that are served

* Detect fraudulent traffic

Any information which is transmitted to advertisers and advertising networks is based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies you will experience less targeted ads. We do not have access to the information collected by third-party cookies nor do we control how they process this information.

Certain vendors, once consent is provided by you to the storage of information on your device and/or to the access of information already stored on your device, use the legal basis of legitimate interest to further process your personal data. You can object to the further processing of your personal data on the basis of legitimate interest by selecting ’Manage My Settings’ in the cookie settings. You can change your preferences and withdraw your consent at any stage by selecting ‘Cookie Settings’.

For more information on online behavioural advertising, please visit www.youronlinechoices.com/ie/your-ad-choices. On this website you'll find information about how behavioural advertising works, further information about cookies and the steps you can take to opt out of such targeting. By turning off ads personalisation, you will still see ads on our site, but they’ll be less targeted to you.

Social Media Cookies

These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks and to view content from social media sites. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools or view content from social media sites.