Devil is in the detail as facts of tapes issue emerge

Information on Garda station recordings came to light in 2011. How the practice was dealt with by the various arms of the State is now the issue, writes Cormac O’Keeffe

* JULY 2011:

In the prosecution of the case taken by the Garda Ombudsman of four gardaí attached to Waterford Garda station in relation to the assault of Anthony Holness in February 2010, the Director of Public Prosecutions attempted to enter evidence of phone recordings conversations of some of the accused. This became the subject of legal argument — and could not be reported. The court heard the tapes were taken from the station where all incoming and outgoing calls on a certain line were recorded. The gardaí in the case claimed they did not know of this, which was disputed by the prosecution. The court ruled that the evidence was inadmissible.