Tirlán has issued an apology after suppliers received milk statements containing information belonging to other farmers in the post earlier today (Tuesday, October 4).
The company, formally known as Glanbia Co-op and Glanbia Ireland, said that it has launched an urgent investigation after the issue came to light with the monthly mailing to milk suppliers.
In a statement issued tonight, Tirlán said that a “significant” number of suppliers had been impacted by the error, but it did not specify an exact number.
“Tirlán sincerely apologises to suppliers impacted by this issue.
“An immediate investigation has commenced as a matter of urgency with our third-party provider to establish the root cause after an issue was identified with the August milk statement mailing.
“A significant number of suppliers regrettably received information relating to another individual supplier as part of their monthly milk statement for August,” the processor said.
Tirlán confirmed that it is now preparing a detailed report on the incident for submission to the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC).
The DPC is the national independent authority in Ireland responsible for upholding the right of individuals to have their personal data protected.
The commissioner safeguards data protection rights by driving compliance through guidance, supervision and enforcement.
Tirlán said that it has “a strong focus on protecting data and takes its regulatory obligations very seriously”.
The processor added that it has data protection procedures in place both internally and with external third-party suppliers.
“All current procedures will be thoroughly reviewed,” Tirlán stated.
“The issue applies to milk statements sent via the mailing service to a number of suppliers.
A large volume of suppliers access their statements online directly via the supplier log in portal and those documents were not affected.
“All suppliers can access their correct milk statements online via the www.tirlanfarmlife.com website,” the processor said.
Tirlán said that it has communicated with all milk suppliers affected and has asked them to store any incorrect statement received securely and not to share the information with others.
Suppliers will be provided with a stamp addressed envelope in the coming days so they can return the statements.