Private investigator fined for mining personal information from gardaí

A private investigator has been fined €5,000 after he was convicted of breaking data protection laws by obtaining private personal information held by gardaí and the ESB.

Judge John O’Neill heard that credit unions hired former garda Michael J Gaynor, now trading as MJG Investigations, from Beatty Grove, Celbridge, Co Kildare, to track down bad debtors. He provided them with “trace reports” to assist them locate debtors for the purpose of initiating legal proceedings.

Fining Gaynor, the judge said: “I can understand how credit unions and financial institutions might need services in tracking down somebody, but enquiries must kept within the law.”