System could tape 300 lines every day

The state-of-the-art Garda recording system had the capability to record more than 300 phone lines all day, every day, over a six-year period.

The digital system was set up in 2008 and recorded incoming and outgoing calls on designated lines at 23 divisional and national headquarters until November 2013.

At that stage, the former Garda commissioner, Martin Callinan, directed that only 999 calls could be recorded after that.

The digital system replaced an analogue tape recording system which has operated since the 1980s, upgraded in 1996. Official documents show that this system covered 232 phone lines.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said, according to the former commissioner, there were 2,485 of these old tapes recovered.

It is understood many, if not all, of these tapes were reused over the years, recording over existing material.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government had as yet no idea of the scale of recordings on the digital system.

The tender document published by An Garda Síochána in 2007 for Digital Recording Systems states that the new system should have the capability to record a total of 313 phone lines — 286 analogue channels and 27 digital — on a continuous, 24/7 basis. It said the system must “automatically record and instantly playback telephone calls and radio traffic” from communication systems at a total of 23 sites.

These include 21 divisional headquarters outside Dublin and two centres in the capital: Dublin HQ at Harcourt Square and Garda HQ at Phoenix Park.

The system was centralised at the Garda Telecommunications Section at Phoenix Park.

The 19 divisional headquarters outside Dublin are: Anglesea Street (Cork), Drogheda, Castlebar, Bandon, Ennis, Fermoy, Henry Street (Limerick), Letterkenny, Mill Street (Galway), Monaghan, Mullingar, Naas, Portlaoise, Roscommon, Sligo, Thurles, Tralee, Waterford, and Wexford.

All divisional headquarters had eight analogue lines recorded in the old system, apart from Cork, which had 24 lines. In the digital system, stations with eight lines were expanded to 12 lines, apart from Drogheda, which jumped to 24 lines. Cork remained with 24 lines.

At the Dublin Metropolitan Headquarters in Harcourt Square, the number of lines recorded reduced from 64 to 34. The lines were connected to the Command and Control Centre and Standby Control, which directed emergency calls.

Before 2008, the tapes were stored locally at divisional headquarters and could be accessed locally on the direction of the local chief superintendent. Under the digital system all calls were stored at Phoenix Park HQ.

In the tender, it said the system had be searchable, which would allow designated officers to search specific lines by date and time.

Interestingly for the Commission of Investigation, the system was supposed to have a log of all search entries.

Also as part of the tender, the company had to train 30 specialist technicians. These would be the only people with the technical expertise to operate the system.