Gardaí speak: Deal with any secret recordings ‘appropriately’

The largest garda staff body has sought assurances from Garda management that no improper recording of phone calls took place in stations.

The Garda Representative Association said if any secret recording happened, it should be “dealt with appropriately” and “through the course of law”.

GRA president John Parker said that recent controversies had “undermined the morale” of gardaí on the frontline.

Mr Parker told RTÉ radio it was known among gardaí working in control rooms — which deal with emergency calls — and public offices that phone calls were recorded.

Mr Parker said calls into those rooms were automatically recorded to establish clarity in garbled calls or to investigate bogus calls. He said the recording applied to “designated” extensions, which had stickers on them to say recording was in operation.

“If I make a call from a control room, it would be recorded and I would know that. I served in a control room for two years and the guards in those facilities would know that.”

Mr Parker said they were seeking clarification from management on whether other phone lines — outside control rooms and public offices — were recorded.

“If I was told there are one or two elsewhere, that should be dealt with through the course of the law,” Mr Parker said, adding that if a suspect wanted to ring a solicitor, the suspect would be brought to a room other than the control room or public offices.