Cookie Policy
Three respects the privacy of all visitors to our website and users of our applications. This Cookie Policy outlines our policy concerning the use of cookies and similar technologies (“cookies”) on Three.ie, other websites we provide and in Three applications that you may download to or access on your devices (collectively our “website”).
By continuing to use our website you accept our use of cookies and can opt out at any time in the ways outlined below.
What are cookies?
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 user name, 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.
How do we use cookies?
Currently, there are four types of cookies that may be generated as you browse our site: Strictly Necessary, Targeting, Performance and Functional cookies.
1. Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly necessary cookies — These cookies are essential for you to browse the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the site. Cookies that allow web shops to hold your items in your cart while you are shopping online are an example of strictly necessary cookies. These cookies will generally be first-party session cookies. While it is not required to obtain consent for these cookies, what they do and why they are necessary are explained in the table below.
How do I control Strictly Necessary 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 these cookies are critical to the efficient working of the site. If you choose to disable these cookies from this site, the functionality of the site may be greatly reduced.
2. Performance Cookies
These cookies collect information about how you use a website, like which pages you visited and which links you clicked on. None of this information can be used to identify you. It is all aggregated and, therefore, anonymized. Their sole purpose is to improve website functions. This includes cookies from third-party analytics services as long as the cookies are for the exclusive use of the owner of the website visited.
Statistical 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 Performance cookies
We use cookies from different partners including 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 Performance 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.
3. Functional cookies
These cookies allow a website to remember choices you have made in the past, like what language you prefer, whether you have accepted our cookie policy, what region you would like weather reports for, or what your user name and password are so you can automatically log in.
4. Targeting cookies
The advertisements you see displayed on this, and other, sites are generated by third parties. These services may use their own anonymous cookies to track how many times a particular ad has been displayed to you and may track your visits to other sites where their ads are displayed. Please note that advertisers can only track visits to sites which display their ads or other content. This tracking is anonymous, meaning that they do not identify who is viewing which ads.
Tracking in this manner allows advertisers to show you ads that are more likely to be interesting to you, and also limit the number of times you see the same ad across a wide number of sites. As an example of how advertisers operate, if you recently researched holidays, adverts for holiday operators may subsequently appear on our sites.
We do not have access to, or control over, these third party cookies; nor can we view the data held by these advertisers. Online advertisers provide ways for you to opt-out of your browsing being tracked.
Information on the specific cookies on our site
Please click on to access the up to date list of cookies used on our site through our cookie preference center. You can opt-out of each cookie category (except strictly necessary cookies) by changing your preferences.
Removing cookies from your device
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).
Managing site-specific cookies
For more detailed control over site-specific cookies, check the privacy and cookie settings in your preferred browser
Blocking cookies
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).
How to contact us
You can contact Three in a number of ways, which are set out on the contact page of our website.
Relevant Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice
You should read this Cookie Policy in conjunction with the Terms for Three Services and the Three Privacy Notice.
Changes to our Cookie Policy
This Cookie Policy is kept under regular review and is therefore subject to change. Amended versions of this document shall be notified through publication in the Privacy Centre on the Three website. This document was last reviewed on the 1st of December 2021.