Ireland: Police ombudsman accessed journalists’ phone records
Ronan Fahy
On 14 January 2016, The Irish Times published an article, reporting that the Irish police ombudsman (the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission - Gsoc) had accessed the mobile phone records of two journalists.
Gsoc is an independent commission which handles complaints against the Irish police force. The Irish Times reported that Gsoc had been investigating leaks to the media by police officers, and informed three officers that a study of journalists’ phone records “had established they had been in contact with the reporters.” Under the Garda Síochána Act of 2005, it is an offence for police officers to disclose certain…
