Privacy Statement

Cork Interdiocesan Marriage Tribunal Privacy Statement

Who are we?

The Cork Interdiocesan Marriage Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) is a body established by the Catholic Church to investigate and rule on:- (i) the circumstances of a marriage and its possible invalidity or nullity; and (ii) other requests for clarifications of marital status and the possibility of marrying in the Church.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Cork and Ross is the Moderator of the Tribunal and he acts for the constituent Diocesan Bishops whose Dioceses the Tribunal serves.  These Dioceses are the following:- the Dioceses of:- Cashel & Emly, Cork and Ross, Cloyne, Limerick, Kerry and Waterford & Lismore.

If a marriage breaks down and one of the parties believes that the marriage may be invalid, they may refer the matter to one of the tribunals.   The tribunal in question then conducts a “judicial process”, in accordance with Canon Law, to establish whether the marriage is null.

What is the Tribunal’s approach to privacy?

The Tribunal fully respects your right to privacy and actively seeks to preserve the privacy rights of those who share information with the Tribunal.  Any personal information you provide to the Tribunal will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, in accordance with:- (i) the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018; (ii) the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016; and (iii) Canon Law. 

This Privacy Statement demonstrates our commitment to protecting and respecting your personal data and explains how the Tribunal processes personal data.  Please read the statement carefully. 

For the purposes of the GDPR, the Data Controller of the Tribunal is the Bishop of Cork and Ross. 

What information do we collect about you?

The type of personal data which the Tribunal processes about you will depend on the particular circumstances and in what capacity you interact with the Tribunal.

If you are a petitioner (e.g. a requester of an annulment) or a respondent (i.e. the other party to a marriage), this can include the following:

  • your name and contact details;
  • your gender, age and date of birth;
  • your family status, employment details and work history;
  • the date and place of marriage;
  • other personal details regarding your marriage;
  • children of the marriage if applicable;
  • information about you that is revealed by the other party to the process and any witness to the process;
  • information about you generated by the legal process by Tribunal Officials, Auditors (presenting judge), the Tribunal Judges or other experts;
  • special category data such as that which reveals your religious beliefs (including Baptism or other sacramental information), data about your interpersonal relationships and/or health data.

This list is not exhaustive.

If you are a witness:-

  • your name and contact details;
  • your gender, age and date of birth;
  • your connection to the petitioner and/or respondent;
  • personal data which you reveal in any interview or evidence given to the Tribunal or its officers;
  • special category data such as that which reveals your religious beliefs.

This list is not exhaustive.

How the Tribunal collects personal data

The Tribunal, in its judicial and administrative functions, receives personal data vin various ways, including the following:

  • through church documents, including sacramental registers and the pre-nuptial enquiry form;
  • the legal submissions and evidence of the parties;
  • the testimonies of witnesses;
  • email and telephone exchanges;
  • expert reports.

How the Tribunal processes personal information

The Tribunal must have a lawful basis for processing personal data.   This will vary according to the circumstances of how and why we have your information, but typical examples include:

  • you have given consent;
  • the processing is within our legitimate interests of advancing and maintaining the Roman Catholic religion with particular reference to individuals’ marital status and their freedom to marry in that Church, choose Holy Orders and/or religious life etc.;
  • the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract e.g. in relation to the performance of a marriage contract or prior to entering a possible future marriage contract;
  • the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation;
  • the processing is necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending legal rights;
  • the processing is necessary for carrying out a task in the public interest; or
  • the processing is necessary for the administration of justice.

 We must have an additional lawful basis for processing special categories personal data.

These may include:

  • you have given explicit consent;
  • the processing is carried out in the course of our legitimate interests as a Tribunal of the Church and the information is not shared outside the Tribunal process;
  • the processing is necessary, for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
  • the processing is necessary, for reasons of a substantial public interest (e.g whether a party is free or not to marry in the Church).

What do we use information for?

We use your information to

  • determine the question of the validity of a marriage under canon law;
  • determine the freedom of a party to seek to be married in the Church under canon law;
  • carry out all administrative and legal functions relating to any application for nullity of marriage or confirmation of a person’s freedom to marry in the Catholic Church;
  • keep appropriate records.

In rare situations the information may be used:

  • to provide you with information you request from us;
  • to deal with complaints and enquires;
  • to help to prevent crime.

How do we share your information?

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with third parties outside the Tribunal with your consent or, as otherwise permitted by law.  Please read the rest of this paragraph for more details on sharing your data.      

It is very important that you understand that any personal information which you provide to the Tribunal, or which comes into the Tribunal’s possession as a result of the legal process, will be shared with the other party to the case and may be shared with Tribunal witnesses and/or experts.  If you are a witness, any evidence you give will be shared with the petitioner and respondent.

We may also share your personal data with the following:

  • entities who provide services to the Tribunal e.g. our professional advisors where they provide us with a service and where the appropriate data sharing agreements are in place;
  • experts who the Tribunal may engage as part of the legal process to advise on any aspect of the case;
  • An Garda Síochána in relation to the detection or prevention of a crime[1];
  • Governmental departments or statutory agencies (e.g. TUSLA) as required by law;
  • Other church tribunals, where appropriate, e.g. other tribunals inquiring into a marriage, or where one party or the Defender of the Bond appeals to a higher court.

As outlined above, the Tribunal may share your personal data with the Gardaí.  This may arise in circumstances where an allegation that a crime has been committed is disclosed as part of the Tribunal’s process.  This includes any allegations of child abuse, including historical allegations.  The Tribunal is under a legal duty to report allegations of criminal activity to the Gardaí and, in certain circumstances to the Child and Family Agency (TUSLA).

Do we transfer your data outside the EEA?

There are certain limited circumstances when the Tribunal may have to send your personal data to the Holy See, which is located outside the European Economic Area.  The GDPR does not apply outside the EEA and therefore, this may mean that your information may not enjoy the same protections and safeguards as it does in Ireland.  If this arises in your case, we will give you further information on this.

Where do we store your information?

The Tribunal is committed to ensuring your information is secure.  We may store your information in hard copy or in electronic format.  The Tribunal utilises appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your data from accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction or access by unauthorised persons.   Our security measures are continuously adapted in line with technological developments.   Please note that our electronic storage is never connected to the internet. 

How to we communicate information?

Our normal means of communicating with individuals and other tribunals is by way of normal postal services.  Occasionally, we do use email.   While this transmission of information is never completely secure, as we know, we employ all appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect any personal data.

How long do we retain your information?

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary with regard to the purposes for which it was collected or lawfully processed, or for so long as may be necessary in light of our legal obligations and in accordance with our retention policy which is available on request.

What are your rights?

You have a number of rights under the GDPR and the Acts.  These include the following: -

  • Informed – you have the right to be informed about any personal data that we hold relating to you, including information as to the accuracy of the data and the purpose for which it is used;
  • Access – you have the right to be given a copy of your personal data on request;
  • Rectification – you have the right to have any inaccurate data held by us rectified free of charge;
  • Restriction – where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, you can ask for a restriction to be placed on further processing;
  • Withdraw – where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you can withdraw your consent;
  • Object – you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data;
  • Erasure – you have the right to request us to delete your personal data, this is known as the “right to be forgotten”;
  • Data portability – you have the right to request us to provide you or a third party, with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used machine-readable format.

The above rights are subject to the procedural rights of the Tribunal and certain exceptions and may be restricted in certain circumstances.

Cookies

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Review

The Tribunal reserves the right to review and amend this Statement at any time without notice.

Please contact us if you have any queries in relation to how your personal data is processed:

Cork Interdiocesan Marriage Tribunal, Tribunal Office,
The Lough, Cork, T12 C654, Tel no.: 021 496 3653.

[1] The Tribunal is bound by the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012, to report any information it receives that alleges an offence against a child or vulnerable adult to the relevant authorities as soon as is practicable.  This includes the Gardaí and TUSLA.