Gardaí and GSOC at odds over bugging row

Tensions between gardaí and the police ombudsman escalated last night after Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan demanded to know why gardaí were “suspected of complicity” by the watchdog in a communications attack on its offices.

It followed a statement by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) which said there had been three security threats to its communication systems — but that there was “no evidence of garda misconduct”.

The Cabinet will be briefed this morning by Justice Minister Alan Shatter, while the three heads of GSOC are set to appear before an Oireachtas committee tomorrow.

Chairman of the Oireachtas Public Services Oversight Committee, Padraig MacLochlainn, said last night there were “more questions than answers” as it stood. “We will want to know what did they and the British security company discover? Were they spied upon or not? And we will need to probe their statement that there was no evidence of Garda involvement. Does that mean they are suspected?” he asked.

After a two-hour meeting with Mr Shatter yesterday, GSOC chairman Simon O’Brien confirmed that there had been three “threats” to the security of its communication systems. He did not say what these threats were and if they constituted bugging or surveillance, as had been claimed since the story broke in the media on Sunday.

Mr O’Brien said an investigation was set up between September and December last year following a security sweep by a specialist British company they had hired. He said: “At the end of the investigation we found no evidence of Garda misconduct and we shut the investigation down.”

A separate statement by GSOC described the threats as “three technical and electronic anomalies”. It said “no further action was necessary or practicable”.

Last night, Mr Callinan said: “It is a cause of grave concern that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission’s statement contains a clear indication that An Garda Síochána was in some way suspected of complicity in this matter despite GSOC’s overall finding that the existence of technical and electronic anomalies could not be conclusively explained.”

He said he was seeking clarification from GSOC on the following issues:

- The nature and extent of the anomalies identified by the UK security consultancy;

- Do the anomalies amount to a security breach and is a criminal offence suspected?

- The basis for the suspicion of Garda misconduct;

- Whether any matters identified now require investigation by An Garda Síochána.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties expressed grave concern and said Mr Shatter needed to give “unequivocal assurances” that the army or Garda special branch — which have surveillance powers — were not involved. “In the event that it remains impossible to identify the culprits with the necessary degree of certainty, an inquiry of a judicial nature may be required,” the council said.

Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny asked why the Government was not informed of the bugging concerns.