PCI Failed to Justify Sharing Former Elder’s Data, Data Protection Commission Rules

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has failed to justify sharing sensitive personal data about a former church elder, according to the Data Protection Commission (DPC). The DPC upheld two complaints brought by Steven Smyrl, who was dismissed as an elder in 2019 following his same-sex marriage.

The DPC concluded that Dublin and Munster Presbytery had not demonstrated a lawful reason to use or share Mr Smyrl’s personal information on two separate occasions. The information included details about his sexual orientation and private life, which had originally been supplied in confidence during an internal Church disciplinary process. In a letter of outcome, the DPC said it was engaging with the PCI about its data protection practices.

The complaints arose from two separate incidents involving confidential documents submitted to a commission set up by Dublin and Munster Presbytery in 2019. The six-member Presbytery Commission was established to examine Mr Smyrl’s position following his same-sex marriage. During the proceedings, two documents of support were submitted: one by Mr Smyrl and one by the minister and secretary to the church council of Christ Church Sandymount. Mr Smyrl understood that these documents would remain confidential and would be seen only by members of the judicial commission. He later discovered that information in them had been used in other Church proceedings, and he complained to the DPC.

The first complaint concerned December 2019, when four ministers in the Dublin and Munster Presbytery sought a separate investigation into the minister and church council of Christ Church Sandymount because of their support for Mr Smyrl. When that request was refused, the ministers appealed to the Presbyterian Church’s Judicial Commission, its senior internal judicial body. During that appeal, one of the four ministers quoted directly from the confidential letter of support, which included sensitive personal information about Mr Smyrl relating to his sexual orientation. Mr Smyrl complained that the information had been used without his permission, and the DPC agreed that the Presbytery had not shown a lawful reason for this. Protecting private information shared in confidence is a matter of defending those who cannot defend themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The second complaint related to a ruling by a Church inquiry in September 2021, which described Mr Smyrl and his spouse, Roy Stanley, as “sexually immoral people.” A draft letter prepared by the Church’s solicitors was presented to a Presbytery meeting in February 2022, with the intention of retracting that description. However, the letter was made available to approximately 30 ministers and elders attending the meeting and was also sent the following day to the minister and church council of Christ Church Sandymount. Mr Smyrl complained that the letter included highly sensitive personal information.

Source: Read the original report