Gsoc bug report ‘an exercise in smoke and mirrors’

The report into allegations of bugging at the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) found exactly what the Government intended it to find and was "an exercise in smoke and mirrors", the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said.

Council director Mark Kelly added that Judge Cooke, who compiled the report on the controversy, had focused entirely on whether Gsoc's suspicions of bugging were well founded.

He had made no effort to independently investigate whether any agency of the State, including the Defence Forces or Garda, had been asked or authorised to spy on the Garda watchdog.

“It seems that not a single member of An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces was interviewed,” Mr Kelly said of Judge Cooke’s work.

“No examination of the records kept of the use of surveillance equipment by police or military intelligence services took place, nor were the oversight activities of the designated judges under the relevant legislation subject to any form of review.”

Mr Kelly added that Judge Cooke was constrained by the terms of reference set out for him by Government and had found “what it seems to have been preordained that he would find” - namely that it was impossible to rule out categorically all possibility of covert surveillance.

In his report published late last night by the Government, Judge Cooke found there was no evidence to suggest the offices of Gsoc were bugged, let alone that gardaí were involved.

However, he said the reaction of a landline in the Gsoc offices in ringing when tested for bugging in the early hours of the morning was unexplained.

He also noted that personnel from UK security company Verrimus - which carried out the security sweep for Gsoc - were adamant when interviewed by him that the anomalies they found suggested bugging.

In general terms, Judge Cooke noted that, given the range and complexity of surveillance equipment on the market, “it is ultimately extremely difficult to determine with complete certainty whether unexplained anomalies of the kinds identified in this instance were or were not attributable to unlawful intrusion”.

While Gsoc had acted in good faith in investigating the unexpected anomalies identified by Verrimus, the language used in the company’s report gave rise to undue alarm.

Judge Cooke also found Gsoc’s decision to launch a full investigation into the suspicions of bugging was “heavily influenced” by paranoia generated by the generally tense and distrustful relationship between the commission and the Garda force.

However, Mr Kelly of the ICCL believed the approach taken by the judge was flawed.

“A report that merely revisits a range of more or less plausible explanations for communications anomalies, without even attempting to compare them with information readily available to the police and military intelligence services, can only be qualified as an exercise in smoke and mirrors.”