Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

My questions were clear, so why is the Minister refusing to answer the simple questions that arise following the answers she has now given on three occasions? Are members of the public or public representatives subject to any form of surveillance by Operation Mizen or the Garda as a result of participating in anti-water charges protests? The Minister referred to one of the approaches involved, making use of open source information, but what other approaches are used by the Garda to gain information on anti-water charges protestors?

This goes back to the story originally reported in the Daily Mail,which referred to six months of monitoring of protestors, the compilation of profiles and the gathering of intelligence on their whereabouts from sources. The simple question is: is this taking place? Are protestors subject to surveillance other than lawful interception, which is denied by the Minister, as a result of being protestors? Is that the case? If the Minister is refusing to answer that question, is it not extremely sinister that people would be targeted for surveillance by gardaí, through the use of taxpayers' resources, as a result of participating in protests?

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