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2014 GSOC Bugging Scandal
The GSOC bugging scandal in February 2014 involved revelations that the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, Ireland's independent police watchdog, were under covert electronic surveillance by an unknown party. John Mooney, security correspondent for ''The Sunday Times'', first published the story alleging that GSOC had been the subject of surveillance by an unidentified party using "government level technology" to hack into its emails, Wi-Fi and telephone systems. The espionage operation was uncovered by a private British counter-surveillance firm, ''Verrimus'', whom GSOC hired after its suspicions became aroused of outside spying on the organisation and its activities. The scandal and its aftermath are widely attributed to be one of the main reasons, along with the Garda whistleblower scandal, for the resignations of the then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan (in March 2014) and Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter (in May 2014). GSOC Chairman, Simon O' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) is an independent statutory body in Ireland charged with overseeing the Garda Síochána, the national police force. It is a three-member body established under the Garda Síochána Act, 2005 to deal with complaints from members of the public about the conduct of Gardaí (police officers). The commission was established in December 2005, and replaced the Garda Síochána Complaints Board. The Commission has more powers than its predecessor and, unlike the Complaints Board, it is not made up of members of the force. The first three commissioners were appointed in February 2006 and the commission commenced hearing complaints in May 2007. The current chairperson is Rory MacCabe, who was appointed in January 2022. Powers, functions and membership It is empowered to: * Directly and independently investigate complaints against members of the Garda Síochána * Investigate any matter, even where no complaint has been made, where it appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Detective Unit
, headquarters = Harcourt Street, Dublin (D2) , formed = as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) , preceding1 = Garda Special Branch , preceding2 = , jurisdiction = Ireland , employees = Undisclosed~ 300 , budget = Undisclosed (part of ''Garda Síochána'' budget, €1.34 billion in 2014) , minister1_name = Helen McEntee, TD , minister1_pfo = Minister for Justice , chief1_name = Drew Harris , chief1_position = Garda Commissioner , chief2_name = John O'Mahoney , chief2_position = Assistant Commissioner of Crime and Security , parent_agency = Crime & Security Branch ''Garda Síochána'' , website Official website The Special Detective Unit (SDU) ( ga, Aonad Speisialta Bleachtaireachta) is the main domestic security agency of the ''Garda Síochána'', the national police force of Ireland, under the aegis of the Crime & Security Branch (CSB). It is the primary counter-terrorism and counter-espionage investigative unit within the state. The Special Detecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016 Irish General Election
The 2016 Irish general election took place on Friday 26 February to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across 40 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. The 31st Dáil was dissolved by President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February, at the request of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. There was a reduction of eight seats under the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013. Following the election, Kenny's Fine Gael with 50 of the 158 seats available remained the largest party in the Dáil despite having lost 26 seats. The main opposition party Fianna Fáil, which had suffered its worst-ever election result of 20 seats in 2011, increased its seats to 44. Sinn Féin was expected to make gains, encouraged by opinion polls placing it ahead of Fianna Fáil, and it became the third-most numerous party with 23 deputies. The Labour Party, which had been the junior party in coalition government with Fine Gael and which had returned its best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall consist of the President and two Houses, viz.: a House of Representatives to be called Dáil Éireann and a Senate to be called Seanad Éireann." It consists of 160 members, each known as a (plural , commonly abbreviated as TDs). TDs represent 39 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach (head of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parliament'' (MP) or '' Member of Congress'' used in other countries. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", although a more literal translation is "Assembly Delegate". Overview For electoral purposes, the Republic of Ireland is divided into areas known as constituencies, each of which elects three, four, or five TDs. Under the Constitution, every 20,000 to 30,000 people must be represented by at least one TD. A candidate to become a TD must be an Irish citizen and over 21 years of age. Members of the judiciary, the Garda Síochána, and the Defence Forces are disqualified from membership of the Dáil. Until the 31st Dáil (2011–2016), the number of TDs had increased to 166. The 2016 general election elected 158 TD ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cooke (judge)
John Cooke (1944 – 29 April 2022) was an Irish lawyer and judge who served as a judge of the Court of First Instance between 1996 and 2008 and the High Court between 2008 and 2013. He practised as a barrister before and after serving as a judge. Early career Cooke was born in 1944 to Kathleen and Richard Cooke, a barrister who practiced until he died aged 94. He obtained BCL and LLB degrees from University College Dublin. He became a barrister in 1966 and a senior counsel in 1980. He was also called to the bars of Northern Ireland, England and Wales, and New South Wales. His case load was predominantly in commercial litigation and EU law, with expertise in competition law. He appeared in cases in the EU courts. Judicial career Court of First Instance Cooke became a judge of the Court of First Instance in 1996. He succeeded Donal Barrington as the Irish judge on the court. His term was renewed in 2001 and he concluded his term early in September 2008. He was the judge-ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Court (Ireland)
The High Court ( ga, An Ard-Chúirt) of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases. When sitting as a criminal court it is called the Central Criminal Court and sits with judge and jury. It also acts as a court of appeal for civil cases in the Circuit Court. It also has the power to determine whether or not a law is constitutional, and of judicial review over acts of the government and other public bodies. Structure The High Court is established by Article 34 of the Constitution of Ireland, which grants the court "full original jurisdiction in and power to determine all matters and questions whether of law or fact, civil or criminal", as well as the ability to determine "the validity of any law having regard to the provisions of this Constitution". Judges are appointed by the President. However, as with almost all the President's constitutional powers, these appointments are made on "the advice of the Governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kieran Boylan Affair
The Kieran Boylan affair refers to a long-running saga involving the convicted drug dealer Kieran Boylan and his links as a protected informant of the Garda Síochána (Ireland's national police force). History Boylan, from County Louth, was the owner of a trucking firm in Ardee and had numerous drugs convictions in England and Ireland. In December 2003, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) caught him at Dublin Port in possession of heroin and cocaine worth €750,000. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment in December 2005. On 6 October 2005, while on bail, members of the Garda National Drug Unit (GNDU) caught Boylan in possession of heroin and cocaine worth €1.7 million in the yard of his trucking firm. The case against him was withdrawn twice, the second time in July 2008 when his trial collapsed, leading to reports that the convicted drug dealer had been assisted by gardaí (members of the Garda Síochána). Inquiry The publicity around this matter led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Surveillance Disclosures (2013–present)
Ongoing news reports in the international media have revealed operational details about the Anglophone cryptographic agencies' global surveillance of both foreign and domestic nationals. The reports mostly emanate from a cache of top secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which he obtained whilst working for Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the largest contractors for defense and intelligence in the United States. In addition to a trove of U.S. federal documents, Snowden's cache reportedly contains thousands of Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand intelligence files that he had accessed via the exclusive "Five Eyes" network. In June 2013, the first of Snowden's documents were published simultaneously by ''The Washington Post'' and ''The Guardian'', attracting considerable public attention. The disclosure continued throughout 2013, and a small portion of the estimated full cache of documents was later published by other media outlets worldwide, most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The existence of the NSA was not revealed until 1975. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees. Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, it was officially formed as the NSA by President Harry S. Truman in 1952. Between then and the end of the Cold War, it became the largest of the U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Communications Headquarters
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primarily based at "The Doughnut" in the suburbs of Cheltenham, GCHQ is the responsibility of the country's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary), but it is not a part of the Foreign Office and its Director ranks as a Permanent Secretary. GCHQ was originally established after the First World War as the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) and was known under that name until 1946. During the Second World War it was located at Bletchley Park, where it was responsible for breaking the German Enigma codes. There are two main components of the GCHQ, the Composite Signals Organisation (CSO), which is responsible for gathering information, and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communications & Information Services Corps
, image= Badge of the Irish Communication and Information Corps.svg , image_size = 150 , dates= , caption=Badge of the CIS Corps , country= , command_structure= Defence Forces , branch=ArmyNaval Service Air Corps , type=Military communications , role=Installation, maintenance and operation of telecommunications and ICT systemsSignals intelligenceCybersecurity , motto= , nickname= , battles= , size=Battalion (minus) strength , garrison=McKee Barracks, Dublin , identification_symbol= , identification_symbol_label=Collar badge , identification_symbol_2=CIS , identification_symbol_2_label=Abbreviation , website= The Communications and Information Services Corps (CIS) ( ga, An Cór Seirbhísí Cumarsáide agus Eolais) – formerly the Army Corps of Signals – is one of the combat support corps of the Irish Defence Forces, the military of Ireland. It is responsible for the installation, maintenance and operation of communications and information systems for the command, control and ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
