Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is issued by Teach Tearmainn(“Teach Tearmainn”, “we”, “our”).

At Teach Tearmainn, we are committed to ensuring that personal data collected and processed is treated lawfully and correctly and complies with data protection law, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The controller (as defined in the GDPR) of your personal data, for all purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice, is Teach Tearmainn. Information provided by you is held in strict confidence.

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or an identifiable person (‘data subject’); an identifiable person is one who can be directly or indirectly identified from that information, for example, a person’s name, identification number, location, online identifier.

“Special categories of personal data” is data which relates to an individual’s health, sex life, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, political opinion, religion or philosophical beliefs, and trade union membership. It also includes genetic and biometric data (where used for ID purposes).

“Criminal offence data” is data which relates to an individual’s criminal convictions and offences.

“Data processing” is any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

The information we collect and how we process your data will depend on your relationship with Teach Tearmainn.

We would like to reassure you that it is your choice if you wish to disclose information regarding the reason for your call, meetings, texts etc.

If you avail of our Support Services, our staff will review the ‘Information and Confidentiality Notice’ with you during your initial meeting and prior to collecting any personal data relating to you. Due to the nature of this service and the level of distress some women may be in on contact with this service, it may be difficult to provide this information to every woman. Therefore, we encourage you to read our ‘Information and ConfidentialityNotice’ here.

If you avail of Support, we will collect information about you and your family, including:

• Personal details about you, for example your name, age, your health.
• Safe ways to contact you.
• Details about what is happening or has happened.
• Any risks that you or your family are experiencing.
• Information about anyone else supporting you.
• Support and Referral Service
• Personal details such as your first name;
• Your health details should you wish to disclose these in the context of domestic abuse, for example if you are pregnant or have a disability;
• Your relationship with the abuser, for example, if the perpetrator is your husband, partner, ex-partner etc.;
• Your experience of the nature and extent of the abuse suffered;
• Any risks that you and your family are experiencing;
• Details of any children you may have (e.g. how many, their ages, gender) and if they suffer abuse at the hands of the perpetrator. We do not ask you to identify your children by name.  However, if your child(ren) are victims of abuse and you do disclose their name and address, Teach Tearmainn are under an obligation to make a Child Protection referral to Tusla;  Teach Tearmainn will also support you to make a referral yourself if you have concerns about your child/ren’s safety.
• Information about anyone else supporting you.

period of time, you are not in contact with our services, we will delete your records. All child protection files that have been inactive after three years are also deleted.

If you make a financial donation to Teach Tearmainn, we will collect and process the following information:

• Name and contact details, including your address, email address and phone number
• Your communication preferences
• Your Bank details
• The amount you wish to donate
• PPS Number

Your data is collected in one of the following ways:

• Phone
• Post
• Website
• In person

The Fundraising Department will process your personal data for the following reasons:

• To process donations which you make to Teach Tearmainn.
• To respond to any queries that you have submitted to us via the website.
• To improve and develop our website.
• To provide you with details of our services and training events.

We collect the PPS number if we receive a tax relief form from the donor to claim from revenue.

When you are making a financial donation to Teach Tearmainn, your personal contact details are entered into our fundraising database.   Our Fundraising Department may be in contact with you from time to time to:

• inform you of upcoming campaigns and fundraising activities.
• tell you how your contribution has improved the lives of women and children suffering domestic abuse.
• to thank you for your support of these endeavours.
• If any time you would like Teach Tearmainn to cease communication with you, this option is available on our website or you can contact the Fundraising Department on fundraising@teachtearmainn.ie

We will not hold your personal data for longer than is necessary. We retain your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this Notice, or to comply with our obligations under applicable law and Revenue purposes.

If you participate in a Teach Tearmainn training course, you will be asked to complete an application form which will collect the following information:

• Name and contact details, including your address, email address and phone number
• If you have any access requirements, for example, a physical disability
• The organisation with whom you work
• Your job title

Data may be collected in one of the following ways:

• Email
• Post
• Phone
• Website

Your personal details will be registered on a list of training attendees for the course.  This will include your name, organisation and job title.  This list is used to confirm attendance for the training course.

Upon completion of the course, Teach Tearmainn will issue a certificate listing the course attended, your name and the course date.

Teach Tearmainn will also use your information to inform you of upcoming training events.

The Training Administrator files a hard copy of the training application form in our files. These are maintained for a period of 3 years from the date of the training course.

Technical details in connection with visits to this website are logged for our statistical purposes.  When you visit our website, the following information is retained about that visit:

• the IP address of your internet connection;
• the type of browser you are using;
• the date and time you accessed our site;
• the pages you accessed on our website and any documents you downloaded;
• the previous website from which you reached us, including any search terms used.

Teach Tearmainn will make no attempt to identify individual visitors, or to associate the technical details listed above with any individual. This information is used to allow us improve the information we are supplying to our users, find out how many people are visiting our sites and for statistical purposes. Some of the above information is used to create summary statistics which allow us to assess the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, discover what information is most and least used, inform us on future design and layout specifications, and help us make our site more user friendly.

The legal bases on which Teach Tearmainn process your personal data may include one or more of the following legal grounds:

When availing of our ‘face-to-face’ Services, we will rely on your consent to the collection and processing of your personal data. Due to the crisis nature of our work, it may not be possible for Teach Tearmainn to obtain consent in certain situations and as such, we may rely on one of the other legal bases, outlined below, for processing your personal data.

You can withdraw your consent at any time (see ‘Exercising your Data Protection Rights’ below).

In our work for justice and social change relating to domestic violence, Teach Tearmainn are required to report on the service provision to various state organisations and public authorities. We consider the provision of information to these organisations is in the public interest. To comply with reporting requirements, Teach Tearmainn process data about clients and service provision; this data is completely anonymised, pseudonyms are used and identifying details are removed or changed to safeguard our service users. Where case studies are discussed, pseudonyms are used.

In emergency life or death situations, we may process personal data in order to protect the vital interests of an individual. In a crisis situation, where there is risk of harm, Teach Tearmainn may be required to share information to prevent such harm.

We may process personal data for the purpose of our legitimate interests in providing our services in a responsible and effective manner and pursuing our social responsibility objectives. We will not process your personal data for these purposes if to do so would constitute unwarranted interference with your own interests, rights and freedoms.

Under the Children First Act 2015, Teach Tearmainn is required to report instances of child abuse and neglect. For more information, please see ‘Sharing Your Information With Third Parties’ below.

Depending on the service that we are providing, Teach Tearmainn may collect Special Categories of personal data relating to you such as your racial or ethnic origin, nationality and data relating to your health.

The legal bases on which we process special categories of personal data relating to you are that:

• You have given your explicit consent to the processing of your personal data;
• Where we need to protect the vital interests of you or another;
• The processing is carried out in the course of our legitimate activities as a non-for-profit body;
• The processing is necessary for the provision of health or social care;

Special Category Data may be processed for statistical purposes on the condition it meets conditions set out to safeguard the identification of the Data Subject in addition to adhering to the principle of data minimisation. Teach Tearmainn ensure that all personal and special categories of data are anonymised for reporting purposes.

To deliver an effective level of service, it is necessary for the organisation to record information deemed relevant to the individuals circumstances. We do not record personal information about women or third parties that is not deemed relevant, for example, data relating to criminal convictions such as shoplifting. An exception, however, is where there are implications for safety of women or staff and where this is the case, we may process personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences in accordance with section 55(1)(b) of the Data Protection Act.

To protect the security of all personal data, Teach Tearmainn have appropriate technical and organisational security measures in place.  These include:

Encryption, and where appropriate and feasible, pseudonymisation of personal data.

Teach Tearmainn ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of processing systems and services.

The ability to restore the availability and access to personal data in a timely manner in the event of a physical or technical incident.

We have processes for regular testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of both technical and organisational measures for ensuring the security of data processing.

Personnel who have access to the data are trained to ensure our work is carried out with complete confidentiality.

Teach Tearmainn Support Services:

Generally, the information you share with us about yourself, your family and others and your situation will be treated as confidential by Teach Tearmainn.  This means that only Teach Tearmainn staff will have access to this information unless you say otherwise.

Sometimes during our support work with you, you may request us to speak/ we may suggest that we speak, to other agencies outside of Teach Tearmainn on your behalf (for example An Garda Síochána, Local Housing Authority, the Department of Social Protection). You do not have to give your permission; you can say no.

Sometimes we are legally required to share information to keep you and your family safe. We do not need your permission to do this but we will always try to discuss this with you as soon as we can, unless it risks safety to do this. The agencies that we usually share information with, in these cases are An Garda Síochána, social services, or other emergency services.

Teach Tearmainn receives funding for our services.  Teach Tearmainn has to give reports to our funders to show the number of people we work with and how we are working with them.  This shows numbers of clients; it does not give any names. It is not possible to identify you from the numbers we give to our funders. This includes reports to the benefactors and donors.

We might make your and other women’s stories anonymous, use pseudonyms and remove/change any identifying information and share this with funders, other agencies and researchers outside the organisation.

We share information in this way to ensure that your or your family’s identity will never be released.

Teach Tearmainn have a duty of care and where we are concerned about the safety of your children, we are obliged to report child protection and welfare concerns to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.  This is not a judgement on any woman but we are merely fulfilling our responsibilities under the Children First Act 2015.

Teach Tearmainn do not record AKA names, such as spouses, partners and cohabitees names, on a woman’s files.

Where there is a concern regarding child safety, the AKA’s name is required for Tusla Child First referrals.

Teach Tearmainn acknowledges the general rule that personal information must be provided to anyone in relation to whom Teach Tearmainn holds Personal Data.  However, due to the sensitive nature of our work, safeguarding a public interest and safety concerns for women and children, Teach Tearmainn are legally protected under the provisions of Data Protection Act 2018, to restrict access to this data.

In general Teach Tearmainn do not transfer Personal Data outside the EEA.  However, if we are required to transfer your personal data outside of the EEA, including to a jurisdiction which is not recognised by the European Commission as providing for an equivalent level of protection for personal data as is provided for in the European Union, we will ensure that appropriate measures are in place to comply with our obligations under applicable law governing such transfers. These may include entering into a contract governing the transfer that contains the ‘standard contractual clauses’ approved for this purpose by the European Commission.

You are not under a statutory or contractual obligation to provide us with any personal data. However, if you wish to avail of our services, to attend our training events or to donate to Teach Tearmainn, we will require certain personal details relating to you.  If you do not provide us with the information required, we may not be in a position to assist you.

You have the following rights, in certain circumstances and subject to certain restrictions, in relation to your personal data:

• Right of Access: you have a right to request a copy of any personal data held by a controller about you.
• Right of Rectification: you have the right to request controllers to rectify inaccurate or incomplete data they hold about you.
• Right to erasure: you have the right to request us to to delete personal data that we hold about you. This is sometimes referred to as the right to be forgotten.
• Right to restrict or to object to processing: You have the right to request that we no longer process your personal data for particular purposes, or to object to our processing of your personal data for particular purposes.
• Data portability: You can request us to provide you, or a third party, with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

For further detailed information about your data protection rights please visit the website https://www.dataprotection.ie/

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, you can talk to your Support Worker.

Due to the nature of Personal Data held by the organisation and in keeping with our mission to safeguard women, Teach Tearmainn stipulate that data access requests are made in writing.  If you wish to make a data access request you can contact Teach Tearmainn by emailing helpline@teachtearmainn.ie.

You will be required to include the following details with your request to ensure Teach Tearmainn can accurately identify the appropriate records:

• Full name provided when using our services
• Relevant time period(s) you accessed our services
• Any other information which may help us to locate your record
• Contact telephone number
• Due to the sensitive nature of our services and the importance of confidentiality, you will be required to verify your identity in person to access the information requested. The following verification documents are required and must be dated within the previous 3 months:
• Proof of identity, such as passport, driving licence or birth certificate
• Proof of address, such as utility bill, bank or credit card statement or revenue tax document.

Upon receipt of your request, Teach Tearmainn will contact you to make an appointment for verification purposes within 2 to 3 weeks from the date your request was received.  Within 30 calendar days from the date we verify your identity, Teach Tearmainn will provide you with the information requested.  However, where requests are complex or numerous, Teach Tearmainn may extend the period of compliance by a further two months.

Data access requests are free of charge.  However, we will charge a ‘reasonable fee’ when the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly if it is repetitive.  We may also charge a reasonable fee to comply with requests for further copies of the same information.  This fee is based on the administrative cost of providing the information.

If you are concerned with how your data is being collected, processed or stored or if your rights about your data are not adhered to by an organisation, you can contact the Data Protection Commission online or by post as follows:

Online:  How to contact the Data Protection Commission

Post: Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28, Ireland.

Teach Tearmainn may occasionally update our Privacy Notice.  We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Notice for the latest information on our privacy practices.

This is a general privacy notice for anyone who may be connected to a woman who uses our services.

In general, Teach Tearmainn only collects the personal data of women and children who access and use our services.  We may retain information about other individuals from women availing of our services but in these cases we only retain the minimum amount of information necessary for the purposes of complying with a legal obligation that applies to us, for the purposes of defending litigation, or for our legitimate interests in providing services to our users.   This information may include names, addresses, dates of birth, details about family circumstances and other information we may be legally obliged to collect, such as for any referral made to Tusla under child protection obligations.  In general, however, this information is recorded anonymously.  We may transfer personal data to regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies.  We only store this information for the length of time necessary to comply with our legal obligations or to defend legal claims.

Anyone whose personal data is collected and processed by Teach Tearmainn has the following rights: the right to access, rectification, objection, deletion, and portability. These rights are only available in certain circumstances and may not be available in some cases.  Teach Tearmainn takes the confidentiality of its service users very seriously and does not generally discuss any individual case with third parties.  Due to this confidentiality and the nature of Teach Tearmainn work of working with women experiencing abuse, it is Teach Tearmainn policy, where we are entitled to do so under applicable law, not to grant data protection requests made by other individuals as a result of the possible risk to women who use our services.

If you proactively contact us regarding the recipient of our service, then we may inform the woman who avails of our service of this contact if it is in the interests of the woman to do so.

If you are not happy with the way we have used your information or addressed your rights, you have the right to make a complaint to the Irish Data Protection Commission.