Law Society: Rights may have been breached by Garda tapes

The Law Society has written to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to set out its grave concern that people’s human rights may have been breached through the secret recording of calls with their solicitors.

The society said, on behalf of solicitors, it must have a say in the terms of reference for the imminent Commission of Investigation into the recording of calls to and from Garda stations during a 30-year period.

Its president, John Shaw, said people had a constitutional right to contact a solicitor and have that done in private.

The society said all of the tapes must be assessed to ascertain if the content of the recordings could have used in subsequent prosecutions.

“The Law Society believes that it must, in the interest of upholding the rule of law, be afforded the opportunity to contribute to the terms of reference for the establishment of any Commission of Investigation.

“It will be necessary for the day-to-day recordings to be analysed together with the implementations of individually affected cases,” its letter to the Taoiseach said.

The Law Society meeting took place as the Government acknowledged that there has been massive public unease over recent revelations about gardaí but denied that recent scandals have damaged the Coalition.

The Taoiseach insisted that the Government would not lose any momentum, despite a fall in support for the Coalition parties in a new opinion poll.

The Cabinet is preparing to sign off on the terms of the inquiry in the coming days.

European Affairs Minister Paschal Donohue said the public had concerns about the recent controversies. “There’s no doubt at all that there has been massive public unease [over] revelations regarding institutions like gardaí. We’re in government, we have to take responsibility for this. But some of the issues we’re dealing with stretch over 30 years ago.”

He said an independent oversight body was needed for the force as well as an open competition for a new Garda chief, after the resignation of the former Garda commissioner.

Fine Gael suffered a five point drop with its support falling to 25%, the same level as Fianna Fáil in The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll published this week. Labour saw its support drop by one to 8%.