Public still in the dark over GSOC scandal as new twists emerge

Yesterday’s revelations have added to the ‘crisis’ but the public is still mostly in the dark about the bugging affair, writes Cormac O’Keeffe

THE proverbial cat is among the pigeons.If it were not so serious, the GSOC surveillance saga, for want of a better shorthand, has all the ingredients of a 1970s espionage film.

We have a suspected “mole” inside the police watchdog leaking top-secret documents to the media — and now a major hunt for him or her now.

We have genuine and legitimate suspicions within the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission that they were victims of a surveillance operation.

And we have the leaders of the watchdog refusing to use mobile phones, refusing to meet in conference rooms, and instead meeting in coffee shops in case they were bugged.

Indeed, it was the embattled head of the Garda Ombudsman Simon O’Brien who himself described the bugging affair and its fall-out as a “crisis”.

And given his detailed, frank and extremely lengthy exchange with members of the Oireachtas Public Services Oversight Committee yesterday, conspiracy theorists would have ample material to believe we do have a state security crisis.

Since the dramatic claims in The Sunday Times, suggesting a sophisticated surveillance operation using “government-level technology”, the story shifted away from the claims being credible — following statements by Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Taoiseach Enda Kenny — back to them having a solid basis.

There were a range of dramatic twists and turns in Leinster House at the committee yesterday, including:

* Suspicious activity found in security sweeps indicated “some form of surveillance” but the evidence fell short of an offence.

* The three threats identified appeared to be external, not internal.

* The report of the external security company stated the technology used in the third threat — a mobile phone scanner — was available only to government agencies.

* Mr O’Brien said he believed that the scanner, set to access UK registered mobile phones, could have been switched to access Irish mobiles.

* GSOC did carry out an investigation to determine whether or not the suspected surveillance may have originated within An Garda Síochána and if a member had committed an offence.

* GSOC is carrying out an investigation to find a staff member suspected of leaking a top-secret report to the Sunday Times.

* There is now a “ticking time-bomb” before further dramatic revelations from the same report are expected to be published this Sunday.

* These revelations contain a basis for the GSOC security sweep of its office which Mr O’Brien said do not tally with his records.

* GSOC refused to say they “exonerated” gardaí from being behind any possible suspected surveillance, but repeated they had no evidence they were.

* Mr O’Brien has considered his position but wants to remain on, unless the Oireachtas feels his position was untenable.

Appearing with the two other commissioners, Kieran Fitzgerald and Carmel Foley, the chairman said there were heightened concerns last summer which led to the organisation hiring an expert British firm to conduct security sweeps. This included sensitive information being in the public domain which they had to themselves.

The sweep identified two security threats initially. The first was an internet device which was connected to an external wi-fi. Mr O’Brien said it was never connected by GSOC, but added it could not access internal hard-wired systems. He further said the connection, while “suspicious”, was operating randomly with no discernible pattern.

However, a second threat appeared to suggest a conference phone facility connected to the chairman’s office was compromised. A phone call rang the number immediately after a check signal was transmitted through it. The security firm said the likelihood of this being a coincidence was “close to zero”. Checks with telecom companies were unable to reveal the source of this call.

He said this could suggest an offence adding that there was a “very, very strong suspicion, probably stronger than other threats,” which he said was harder to explain away. But he said he didn’t think it met the threshold of an offence.

He said they didn’t have “precision” on the “suspicions and the suspicious activity”.

It was soon after this that the commission launched a public interest inquiry to investigate if “such surveillance may have originated within An Garda Síochána and if a member of An Garda Síochána may have committed an offence”.

A later third check by the security firm revealed the existence of a mobile phone scanner nearby. It said the technology was “only available to government agencies”.

The firm said the scanner was set to access UK registered phones. Mr O’Brien said no staff in GSOC had such phones but that there were “UK operatives” in the building at the time.

Mr O’Brien said he believed such scanners could be switched to access Irish registered mobile phones.

“There are indications that we may have some suspicions someone was surveilling us.”

He said while they had “suspicions” about surveillance he didn’t believe it reached the threshold of an offence

Asked at the hearing were gardaí exonerated of involvement, Mr Fitzgerald said he “wouldn’t necessarily use the word exonerate,” saying it had specific connotations. He stated they had no evidence of Garda involvement, later saying they had no “definitive evidence”.

In a dramatic revelation, Mr O’Brien said that an internal investigation was underway to hunt down the person who leaked the top secret report to The Sunday Times. He estimated that there “less than seven” people who would have had access to it.

And reflecting extraordinary counter-surveillance steps taken by GSOC, Mr O’Brien said the three commissioners had “disavowed” themselves of using mobile phones for communication. They also “disavowed” themselves of “meeting around a normal meeting table”. He said the commissioners “were meeting in cafes on Capel St.”

Due to these restrictions he said it was his decision alone not to bring the security firm’s report to the minister. He stood by his reason to apologise to the minister for this, denying it weakened his independence.