JUSTICE MINISTER HELEN McEntee has told the Dáil that there is “nothing to suggest” that accessing of journalists’ phones by GSOC is “widespread or current”.

The Sunday Times Ireland reported McEntee has come under pressure to order an inquiry into the targeting of journalists’ phones by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

GSOC is an independent statutory body which provides independent oversight of policing in Ireland.

In 2016, GSOC secretly accessed the phone records of two journalists in an attempt to identify their sources, Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy told the Dáil this morning. 

One of the two journalists involved has written about what happened on Twitter/X, and urged other reporters who have been part of a GSOC complaint to put in a data subject access request to find out whether their mobile phone records had been accessed. 

Murphy lodged a priority question in the Dáil to McEntee around GSOC “secretly and unlawfully accessing journalist’s mobile phone records”.

Referencing an article in The Sunday Times Ireland, Murphy said there “appears to be solid evidence that this is happening”.

McEntee said “GSOC is completely independent in the exercise of its functions”.

She added: “The Oireachtas has legislated to ensure this independence and to protect the organisation from any political interference in the investigations they must conduct without fear or favour, but of course, the ombudsman must always operate within accordance with the law.”

McEntee further said she has “no role in GSOC investigations, nor can I direct how GSOC exercises their functions.”

While she said she was “aware” of media reports around GSOC, McEntee said “any person who feels that they have a case in the law could have recourse to the courts, however no individual has conveyed any information to me”.

She also dismissed calls for an inquiry as “nothing has been brought directly to my attention that would form the basis” for one.

“I can assure the deputy that GSOC, like other bodies permitted to access telecommunications data, this is in very limited, certain circumstances,” added McEntee.

However, Deputy Murphy said GSOC is accountable to the Justice Minister and told McEntee: “I want to know how long this has been happening for, if it’s lawful and on what legal basis it’s happening on.”

“I do understand that there is a basis in very limited circumstances to do this,” said Murphy, “but this is not what appears to be happening.”

Murphy added that she was “very surprised” that McEntee hadn’t received a briefing from GSOC.

McEntee replied that there is “nothing to suggest that this is widespread or current”.

She added that the information she has seen is that it “relates to a particular case back in 2016 and prior to that”.

“I enacted legislation in 2022,” said McEntee, “which sets out very clearly the route that GSOC must undertake, which requires judicial discretion, applying the rules that it must be fair, balanced, and in the public interest that this action is taken.

“I’m not aware of any number of incidents other than the one in 2016.”

The legislation enacted in 2022 was mostly in response to judgements by the European Court of Justice, as well as the legal challenge taken by convicted murder Graham Dwyer.

McEntee added: “The review has already taken place, the law has already been changed, and GSOC have assured that they act absolutely in accordance with the law.”

The Justice Minister added that GSOC “assured” her in the past week that “they are acting in accordance with the law and there is nothing to suggest that there are any other types of cases”.

“You’re asking me to conduct an inquiry when there’s absolutely no evidence that has been put forward to me that anything subsequent to 2016 has actually happened here,” said McEntee.

“If that’s not the case, then I would ask people to provide that evidence, but I don’t have that evidence and I have to go by the information that I have.”