GSOC: We can’t rule out HQ was bugged

The Garda Ombudsman has said there was no evidence to suggest its headquarters were bugged but that it cannot definitively be ruled out.

Garda ombudsman commissioner Kieran FitzGerald said last night a “credible threat” to its security had been identified when screening of its offices was carried out last year.

However, he admitted there was no evidence to suggest surveillance took place.

Members of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission will today face intense pressure to answer questions at an Oireachtas committee following unprecedented criticism from Government circles and calls from one Garda body for its chairman to go.

The Government yesterday said there had been no “definitive evidence” of unauthorised surveillance at GSOC’s headquarters in Dublin.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter gave the Dáil details of three “potential threats” uncovered during a routine security sweep at GSOC’s offices last year.

These included security concerns about a wifi device in the building, the chairman’s conference telephone, and the presence of a UK 3G network near its offices.

Mr Shatter said GSOC told him it had asked a British security firm to investigate the concerns and concluded there was no evidence of surveillance and that it was not bugged.

GSOC’s appearance before TDs and senators comes after three days of speculation that security at the offices had been compromised. The Garda Commissioner at one stage claimed that a statement by GSOC had implied Garda complicity in the affair.

The association, which represents middle-ranking gardaí, called on GSOC chairman Simon O’Brien to “consider his position” and accused him of “usurping the Government” for not originally reporting the affair to Mr Shatter.

Despite growing demands for an independent inquiry, Mr Shatter last night indicated he was not in favour of one.

Opposition TDs also said Taoiseach Enda Kenny was wrong for inaccurately claiming that GSOC was required under legislation to report some matters to Government.

In an interview on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme last night, Mr FitzGerald said the office could not “definitively say we were not bugged”.

GSOC had arranged the screening of its building because of the “paramount importance” of the security of its data and so it used a British firm, he said.

There was also a “heightened awareness” about its security because of the ombudsman’s inquiry into international drug dealer Kieran Boylan.

Mr FitzGerald denied the ombudsman had not gone to gardaí or the justice minister because it did not trust them.

He also said there was no reason for GSOC members to consider their positions as they had done “everything possible” to identify and “eradicate” doubts about its security.

He said the ombudsman would not be publishing the security report as it revealed far too much about the security of GSOC.