The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) has been accessing individuals' telephone records as far back as 2011, a former commissioner has confirmed.
Conor Brady, one of Gsoc's three commissioners from 2005 to 2011, wrote at the weekend that he authorised numerous phone record requests, as provided for by law.
He would not say whether any of these related to journalists’ phones but said if they did, it would not have deterred him.
"Provided the evidence put before me by a senior investigating officer persuaded me that the data was necessary for the investigation of serious crime, I would have authorised the request whether the subject was a journalist, garda, politician or anyone else," Brady wrote in the Sunday Times.
Civilian phones
Under the Communications (Data Retention) Act 2011 Gsoc, An Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners and the Defence Forces can monitor civilian phones with only internal approval required. Brady's comment confirms Gsoc used that power within months of the law's enactment.
The commission’s powers were further strengthened last year, when the same Act was amended to extend to it the power to plant listening devices and use as evidence any material the devices yielded.
Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has asked retired chief justice John Murray to carry out a review of how journalists' data had been accessed by any of the agencies with the power to do so, including Gsoc.
Phone records
This follows the revelation that Gsoc accessed journalists' phone records after a complaint from a friend of model Katy French, who died in 2007. He alleged information on the case supplied to the Garda had been leaked to the media.
In an attempt to find out which gardaí, if any, had been in contact with the journalists, the reporters’ phones were checked; confirmation of which raised concerns about press freedom.
In his column, Brady, a former editor of The Irish Times, said much of the commentary on the issue was "naive and self-serving".
While he empathised with journalists’ concerns when the State tried to get behind the assurances of confidentiality they gave their sources, he said media protestations last week showed “scarcely any acknowledgment that some people in the media just might have a case to answer, or that Gsoc has a job to do that is also in the public interest”.
