Journalists Investigated: Civil liberties group critical of phone probe review

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has criticised the decision to restrict a review of phone snooping powers to their use in relation to journalists instead of including all members of the public.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has appointed retired Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice John Murray, to carry out an independent review of the laws that allow gardaí, the Garda Ombudsman, Revenue, and the Defence Forces to access journalists’ phone records and other communications data without warrant.

ICCL director Mark Kelly said he had “serious misgivings” about the review’s scope. “This legislation is used by law enforcement agencies to capture a wide range of private information about members of the public,” he said. “The oversight shortcomings that this review will certainly identify are far from confined to cases where the data belongs to members of the media.”