Moderation and Take Down Policy

1.0 Moderation Policy

By registering to use the Platform the user accepts the Terms and Conditions of use and agrees that they are solely responsible for their conduct and any material they submit, post, and/or display on the Platform. They also agree not to post material contrary to the Moderation and Take Down policy and Privacy Policy.

By default, comments on this service are pre-moderated. This means that comments will not be published instantly; they will first be checked by the moderators.

Moderation is intended to ensure debate is fair and inclusive, and will not be used to suppress legitimate, reasoned debate about the issues raised.

Comments will normally be approved for publication as long as they:

  • Respect other commenters and individuals. Comments must not be malicious or offensive in nature, and must not constitute a personal attack on a person’s character;
  • Don’t incite hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or other personal characteristic;
  • Don’t include swearing, hate-speech or obscenity;
  • Don’t publicly reveal personal details, such as private addresses, phone numbers or email addresses;
  • Don’t break the law. This includes libel, condoning illegal activity, and breaking copyright;
  • Are reasonably concise, and don’t constitute spamming of this service;
  • Don’t advertise commercial products and services. You may mention relevant products and services as long as they support your comment;
  • Don’t impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation;
  • Are on-topic. Please don’t post messages that are unrelated to the purpose of Galway City Council’s consultation portal
  • Are not, in the opinion of Galway City Council vexatious, libellous or containing confidential information relating to a third party in respect of which the third party has not, expressly, or impliedly, consented to its disclosure.

2.0 Take down policy

The council shall take reasonable measures to moderate content before material is published on the platform.

However, to assist detection of instances where removal of material from the platform is deemed necessary, the council encourages prompt notification by the public regarding adherence to Terms and Conditions, the Moderation Policy and Privacy Policy.

2.1 Breach of security or personal data:

In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of use you agree to notify Galway City Council at dpo@galwaycity.ie immediately if you suspect any unauthorised use of your account or access to your password.  You may change your password or profile by following instructions on the site. (Note: Contractor to provide link).

If you suspect a data breach please report this immediately to the council’s Data Protection Officer at:

Emaildpo@galwaycity.ie or

Phone: 091-536400 or

Post:  City Hall,  College Road,  Galway,  H91 X4K8.

In the interests of protecting the privacy of individuals, where a personal data breach report has been received by the council’s Data Protection Officer, while investigation is ongoing, the council will remove the relevant material from the platform, until such time as a decision regarding the alleged breach is made by the council’s Data Protection Officer or the Data Protection Commission, as appropriate. 

2.2 Other non-compliance with Terms and Conditions and Moderation and Take Down Policy

Other than matters relating to data privacy, if you believe that any content on the platform does not conform to the Terms and Conditions of use or does not conform to the Moderation and Take Down Policy, please raise it immediately with Galway City Council at customerservice@galwaycity.ie  marking the subject as urgent.   

Where for any reason publication occurs that in the view of Galway City Council represents a breach of Terms and Conditions, Moderation Policy and/or Privacy Policy, the council reserves the right to:

  • withdraw the submission from publication on the Platform and
  • to either permanently remove same or
  • to appropriately redact and re-publish same.