Tralee recordings never used in cases, says garda

Kerry’s most senior garda yesterday gave an assurance that tapes of telephone calls to the station in Tralee — one of the 21 stations fitted with a digital recording system — were never used in court cases.

Chief Superintendent Pat Sullivan said the only calls that were taped were 999 calls and calls to the main switchboard, as a back-up to the 999 system, but not calls transferred within the station. “The recording would stop immediately, the call was transferred to another line in the station. I’m 100% sure of that,” he said.

Chief Supt Sullivan further stated that prisoners would have to be in the station control room if they were to be recorded, but prisoners and solicitors do not have access to the control room.

He said previous court cases, current cases, and pending cases were not and would not be affected by calls to Tralee station.

“We have never used these tapes in my time,” he said. “I’ve been part of many investigations and have been in charge of a number of them and we never utilised these tapes in court cases that I am aware of.

“I would be very, very confident that no case was compromised down the years [by use of tapes] in the Kerry division.”

He said the main switchboard in Tralee was recorded in case people could not get through to the 999 system. It was also his understanding that the recordings would be kept for a month and then taped over.

Leading legal figures in Kerry have expressed concerns about the recording of phone calls.

According to gardaí, the Tralee station was the only station in Kerry to have the recording system.