The president of the Law Society, Mr Tony Ensor, has insisted there is evidence to suggest a solicitor's phone was tapped in relation to the McBrearty case in Co Donegal in spite of a categorical denial by the Garda Siochana.
Mr Ensor told The Irish Times he did not think the tap had been officially sanctioned. He accepted unconditionally that the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, had no knowledge of any such interception.
"I have the utmost respect for Pat Byrne. He would never authorise such a thing. Be that as it may, we have a major concern it may have been done by someone with an interest in doing it."
The President of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Esmond Smyth, may now be asked to undertake a formal investigation into complaints that the telephones of barristers and solicitors were tapped. The judge is responsible for such investigations under the 1993 Interception of Postal Packages and Telecommunication Messages Act.
The McBrearty family are taking a civil case for damages against a number of Co Donegal gardai whom they have accused of harassing them and taking malicious prosecutions against them. Earlier this year, the DPP dropped 157 cases pending against members of the family.
A spokesman at the Garda Press Office denied the telephones of members of the legal team representing the family, from Raphoe, Co Donegal, had been officially tapped. He said there was no such thing as an unofficial interception and any such action would have amounted to a criminal offence.
The Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Alan Shatter, said allegations that members of the Garda may have tapped the phones of solicitors representing the McBreartys cast a sinister shadow over the integrity of the criminal justice system.
He called on the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to say whether the telephones had been tapped or whether they had been under Garda surveillance in any other way. He also asked for a public explanation for the dropping of the 157 summons issued against the McBrearty family and for the later transfer of five members of the Garda from Co Donegal.
Mr Ensor said his suspicions, and those of the Binchy law firm, which represents the McBrearty family, were based on the fact that information which had not come into the public domain was known to the other side in the law case.
"Some things happened in this case which are quite extraordinary," he said. "For example, the other side allegedly knew that the solicitors had changed counsel before this was put on record. Information had got to the other side and there was no way it could have without phones being tapped. They did not send faxes or e-mails.
"The solicitors came to me and told me that they had been told by other people in the Garda that their phones were being tapped. We all know there are investigations ongoing. We all know prosecutions have been dropped. As president of the Law Society, I am just echoing the concerns of the solicitors."
The barristers involved in the case, Mr Martin Giblin SC, and Mr Peter Nolan, expressed their own concerns to the Bar Council that their telephones had been tapped.
There has been three Garda investigations into the McBrearty case, with the most recent conducted by assistant commissioner, Kevin Carty. A report of his investigation is currently with the Director of Public Prosecutions. A copy has also been passed to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue.