On 18 December 1982, ''Irish Times'' security correspondent Peter Murtagh broke the news that the telephone of
Bruce Arnold and
Geraldine Kennedy
Geraldine Kennedy (born 1 September 1951) is an Irish journalist and politician who served as the first female editor of ''The Irish Times'' newspaper. She previously served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1987 ...
had been tapped officially with warrants signed by former Minister for Justice
Seán Doherty.
This was revealed after the
November 1982 elections which the
outgoing government had lost.
[
Incoming Minister for Justice Michael Noonan ordered an investigation and on 20 January 1983 announced findings that the previous ]Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
government had authorised illegal phone tapping
Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...
of the journalists Geraldine Kennedy, Bruce Arnold and Vincent Browne
Vincent Browne (born 17 July 1944) is an Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with ''The Irish Times'' and ''The Sunday Business Post'' and a non-practising barrister. From 1996 until 2007, he presented a nightly talk-show ...
.[ Seán Doherty signed warrants for the taps while ]Minister for Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
.[ Normally phone tapping was used to investigate serious crime or threats to the security of the state but the reverse happened in this case, Minister Noonan announced.][
]
History
Tapping
The phone tapping warrants were initiated by Séan Doherty in discussion with Deputy Garda Commissioner Joseph Ainsworth.[
The phone of Bruce Arnold was tapped from May 10, 1982 to July 12 the same year.][ The application was stated to be for security purposes, with a departmental record claiming he was "anti-national".][
The phone of Geraldine Kennedy was tapped from July 28, 1982 to November 16 that year with a renewal on October 27 on the grounds that it was "yielding results".][ For the tap on Kennedys' phone a new category of "national security" was created for the warrant.][
Deputy Commissioner Ainsworth requested a complete set of transcripts on October 5, 1982.][
]
Senior Garda figures
The incoming cabinet met on 18 and 19 January 1983 and an initial draft of a decision expressed loss of confidence in Garda Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin and Deputy Commissioner Thomas Joseph Ainsworth and that they considered removing them from office, though this was removed from the final draft.[
]
Findings by Deputy Commissioner Wren
Deputy Garda Commissioner Lawrence Wren found that neither Bruce Arnold or Geraldine Kennedy had been connected with criminal or subversive activities or people involved with same, that the request for the warrants had not come from the Gardaí but from then minister Séan Doherty and that copies of the recordings had been supplied to minister Doherty.[
]
Resignation of Charles Haughey
Nearly a decade after the scandal broke, Seán Doherty announced at a press conference that he had shown transcripts of recordings to Charles Haughey
Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...
in 1982 while the latter was still Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...
. Until the press conference, Doherty had denied this. This led to Haughey's resignation as Taoiseach.
Settlements
Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold sued and won for the phone tapping and Vincent Browne settled out of court for earlier phone tapping.Irish Examiner, Bertie finally says sorry for '80s phone scandal
/ref>
See also
* 2014 GSOC bugging scandal
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
‘Ireland's Watergate’: How the phone tapping scandal would lead to Haughey's downfall… eventually
1983 in Ireland
20th-century scandals
Phone tapping scandal
Garda Síochána
History of Fianna Fáil
Phone tapping scandal
Political scandals in the Republic of Ireland
Surveillance scandals
Telephone tapping