A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site.

First party cookies are cookies set by the website you’re visiting. Only that website can read them. In addition, a website might potentially use external services, which also set their own cookies, known as third-party cookies.

Persistent cookies are cookies saved on your computer and that are not deleted automatically when you quit your browser, unlike a session cookie, which is deleted when you quit your browser.

Every time you visit our websites, you will be prompted to accept or refuse cookies. The purpose is to enable the site to remember your preferences (such as username, language, etc.) for a certain period of time. That way, you don’t have to re-enter them when browsing around the site during the same visit.

Cookies can also be used to establish anonymised statistics about the browsing experience on our sites.

Currently, there are two types of cookies that may be generated as you browse our site: session cookies and analytics cookies.

1. Session Cookies

Session Cookies are only stored temporarily in the browser's memory, and are destroyed when it is closed down, although they will survive navigating away from the website they came from. As you move through the site, various pieces of information need to be stored in order for the site to function properly. We use a service provider called SquareSpace to ensure our site functions as performant as possible and is delivered to you as quickly as possible.

How do I control session cookies?

You can use your browser settings to control whether or not we set session cookies. More information on your browser settings is provided at the bottom of this page.

Please be aware that cookies are critical to the efficient working of the site. If you choose to disable cookies from this site, the functionality of the site may be greatly reduced.

2. Analytics Cookies

In order to monitor how our sites are performing, we collect data about page visits. This information is completely anonymous — we cannot determine who it came from. When we use this data, we look at numbers of visitors overall rather than individual visits.

Analytics information is used in reports and to improve our site. For example, we have used analytics data to add, remove or change features of the site based on how popular they are with users.

We track, for example:

the numbers of visitors to individual pages;

when pages were visited;

how long users stayed on the page;

the IP address of the user of the website;

the page they came from;

technical data about the device being used to browse the site (such as browser and operating system version, and display size) — we use this data to ensure that the technology our site uses is appropriate for the majority of our users, and how best to display the site for users who have less capable browsers.

More information about analytics cookies

We use cookies from different partners including SquareSpace and Google to provide our analytics data. You can read more about how Google Analytics treats your data on their web site. You can also read Google’s full privacy policy.

How do I control analytics cookies?

Google provides a tool to opt-out of Google Analytics. This is available for all modern browsers in the form of a browser plugin. Additionally, you can control how cookies are set using your browser settings.

You can delete all cookies that are already on your device by clearing the browsing history of your browser. This will remove all cookies from all websites you have visited.

Be aware though that you may also lose some saved information (e.g., saved login details, site preferences).

You can set most modern browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g., profile logging-in).

If you still have any concerns relating to our use of cookies, please contact us at loans@elginpf.ie