GSOC’s account of bugging evidence does not tally with that of Minister

As the man in the eye of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) bugging storm yesterday relayed his version of events in full, the words of Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Justice Alan Shatter on the controversy were coming under renewed focus.

The Government has tried as hard as it could in recent days to convince the public that allegations of spying, bugging, surveillance, anomalies – call them what you will – at GSOC were all a puff of smoke and that the Garda force and its watchdog can put it all behind them and live happily ever after.

Shatter has told the Dáil that despite the very specific detail that has entered the public domain since the weekend, GSOC had found “no definitive evidence” of surveillance on its offices, adding all that had been uncovered was “potential threats or vulnerabilities”.

But if you listened carefully to GSOC chairman Simon O’Brien yesterday, his account of what has been found goes much further than that offered by Shatter.

O’Brien and his colleagues are resolute in their belief they have seen evidence that very strongly indicates they were placed under surveillance.

The most serious of three examples of suspected surveillance found relates to O’Brien’s landline in his office in GSOC headquarters in Dublin.

In layman’s terms, it was tested to determine it if was bugged. This was done by sending a message down the line informing any potential bug that the line was being put out of service.

Automatic response
One source familiar with such testing said a bugging mechanism's automatic response is to ring the telephone to establish if it had indeed just been discontinued.

When O’Brien’s phone was put through that process it rang immediately. It was 1am.

The possibilities are two-fold.

Either the phone was bugged and its ringing was confirmation of that fact.

Or somebody somewhere accidentally rang the phone in the early hours of the morning and at the exact moment those doing the testing expected it to ring if bugged.

Phone ringing
O'Brien, the chairman of GSOC, and Kieran Fitzgerald one of its three commissioners, have said several times since this story broke in the Sunday Times that the chances of the phone ringing by coincidence as "remote to zero".

They both repeated that assertion yesterday, at times with emphasis.

In short, they accept the information they have in their possession is not definitive proof, but they believe the chances the phone was not bugged are “remote to zero”.

Far from yesterday rubbishing the report in the Sunday Times , where the story broke, O'Brien said it was so detailed and accurate he believed the author had sight of a confidential report compiled by the UK security experts drafted in to check the commission's offices.

O’Brien has said he and his staff were so convinced their office and phones were under electronic surveillance that last year they held meetings in cafes on Capel Street near their officers and are now much more cautious about discussing business on their mobile phones.

'Policing the police'
These are the actions of people – experienced in the security field and regarded by Shatter as being bright and astute enough to be charged with policing the police – who believe they have been bugged.

GSOC says only seven of its staff had access to the security report it believes was leaked to the Sunday Times . And it has now launched its own investigation to find that mole.

The very agency established to end the practice of gardaí investigating gardaí is now investigating itself, with the Minister for Justice all the while insisting that there is nothing that warrants independent investigation.