DUBLIN, Ireland—An employee of a credit union here allegedly showed a member's father his confidential financial statements indicating the son's loans were in trouble, according to a case before this country’s High Court.
The Independent reported that Kevin Martin, a member of St. Raphael's Garda Credit Union, claims his data protection rights were breached when a representative of the credit union turned up at his father's home and showed him the documentation. Martin is seeking an order that the Data Protection Commissioner conduct an oral hearing into his complaint.
The Independent reported that in his judicial review application Martin says he has been a member of St. Raphael's since 2004 and in January 2012, the credit union wrote to him asking it to contact one of its representatives in relation to his loan account. Martin said he made a number of efforts to contact the representative without success.
In March 2012, Martin said he emailed the person who was trying to contact and received a "read receipt" indicating the email had been read, according to the court document.
Martin said that was the last communication he received until he got a phone call from his father saying a man from the credit union had called to his father's house asking to speak to Martin about his loans which were "in trouble.” Moreover, alleges the court document, the CU rep Martin had ignored the credit union's attempts to contact him.
Martin complained to the Data Protection Commissioner, who contacted St Raphael's.
The matter comes back before the court next month.