Fitzgerald defends Garda access to telephone records

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has defended the Garda practice of accessing telephone records, saying it is a basic investigative tool in criminal cases.

Figures confirmed by the Department of Justice show An Garda Síochána was granted more than 11,500 phone records and internet logs in 2013 and 2014.

Ms Fitzgerald said gardaí access phone records during investigations into criminal activity. "Access to phone records is a basic investigative tool in high profile criminal cases," she on the Sean O'Rourke show on RTÉ Radio 1.

“If you think about criminal ganags in this country, do you think they use one mobile phone? They would go through about 50 or 100 phones, each member of a criminal gang in a couple of weeks. Those numbers add up very quickly, it’s often the same users. It’s criminal gangs, it’s terrorism, it’s serious issues.”

Ms Fitzgerald’s comments follow ontroversy over reports of the Garda and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission accessing journalists’ phone records to determine the source of leaks from within the force.

The practice has been criticised because the journalists are not expected of wrongdoing. Ms Fitzgerald said she is open to the suggestion that investigators would have to receive prior permission from a judge to access certain telephone records.

“I personally would be very open to that and think it would satisfy the community out there, and journalists in particular, that there is no widespread misuse of powers and that there is a process in place,” she said.