Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I was referring to the newspaper article written by John Mooney in The Sunday Times last weekend. There have been follow-up articles as well. It came about as a consequence of journalists receiving information they requested from GSOC about themselves. There appears to be solid evidence that the accessing of certain phone records is happening. Does the Minister accept that this is unlawful? Has she not been contacted by GSOC? Has she not contacted GSOC following this? GSOC is accountable to the Minister. Her Department is where its Vote comes through. I accept that when there is an investigation, GSOC has independence. I do not dispute that. However, I want to know how long this has been happening, whether it is lawful, on what legal basis it is happening, how often it occurred, and how many journalists were involved in this case. I understand that there is a basis in very limited circumstances to do this, but this is not what appears to be happening. I am very surprised that the Minister has not received a briefing from GSOC about this. The Minister should not rely on a Deputy to give her information. That is not my function. It is her function, given that GSOC is accountable to her, to satisfy herself that what it is doing is lawful.

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