Justice Minister refers Alan Kelly's questions on phone bugging to judge

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has referred questions by Labour TD Alan Kelly to a judge over whether his phone might be bugged, saying he has concerns about the matters raised.

As revealed by the Irish Examiner, Mr Kelly had asked Mr Flanagan if his phone had ever been bugged by gardaí or his communications intercepted.

Asked why he felt his communications may be under surveillance, Mr Kelly yesterday said: “I have done this for two reasons — one is because it has been raised with me, be very clear about this, raised with me to watch all my communications. These are people who, obviously, I have been working with for some period of time, as you are well aware, given the questions I have been asking over the last number of months in particular.”