Claim Garda Ombudsman HQ bugged

An Oireachtas committee is to contact the Garda Ombudsman, calling on it to make a formal statement on dramatic reports its offices have been bugged.

Pádraig MacLochlainn, chairman of the Oireachtas Public Services Oversight Committee, said Justice Minister Alan Shatter or some independent body needed to examine the claims.

The Sinn Féin deputy told the Irish Examiner that the reports placed a question mark over An Garda Síochána. He said he would be “shocked beyond belief” if the gardaí were behind the covert surveillance, adding he didn’t believe that was the case.

The Fine Gael chairman of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, David Stanton, called on the minister to fully brief himself and the Cabinet about the “very, very serious” reports.

Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman, called on the minister to make a statement on the “extraordinary claims”, saying they undermined confidence in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

Mr Shatter last night said he had sought a report from GSOC and would not comment until then. GSOC, and the gardaí, declined to comment yesterday.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said he didn’t think anybody, including public officials, “should be bugged”.

Meanwhile, the former commissioner at the GSOC, Conor Brady, tweeted that the reports in The Sunday Times appeared to be “well sourced and credible”.

The newspaper reported that GSOC’s emails, wi-fi, and phone systems had been hacked into and bugged by an unknown external body, agency or group.

The discovery was made after GSOC brought in security experts from Britain last summer to examine their systems.

GSOC chairman Simon O’Brien is reported to have his “suspicions” about who was behind the bugging, but had lacked hard evidence.

The Irish Examiner understands the watchdog is very concerned about the find, but that the evidence may not be solid enough for the watchdog to go public.

Garda sources questioned why the matter was not reported to them.

“You have to report it to the investigating authorities — the gardaí,” the source said, “and if you don’t you ask why not? The clear implication is you suspect we did it.”

Mr MacLochlainn said he would contact GSOC today to establish what happened.

“We will be pushing GSOC for a definitive statement. They have a responsibility to clarify what they found.

This has been put into the public domain.

“The systems appear to have been breached and somebody is listening. Right now the finger points at An Garda Síochána. At this moment I don’t believe that. It’s not good enough for the report to be left hanging there. We need answers and we need them quick”

He said GSOC was due to appear before the committee within the next fortnight, but that this might be brought forward.