BBC lawyers to examine claims that police spied on journalist Vincent Kearney

The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said he is aware of “concerns” about the alleged surveillance of journalist Vincent Kearney by the police.

Jon Boutcher told a meeting of the Policing Board on Thursday there would be transparency around the issue of who was being monitored by police and why.

The BBC has instructed lawyers to contact a specialist tribunal over the claims, which relate to Mr Kearney’s work on a 2011 Spotlight documentary that investigated the independence of Northern Ireland’s police watchdog.

Mr Kearney, who is the current Northern editor at RTÉ, said he is determined to find out what happened.

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When asked about the alleged surveillance of Mr Kearney, Mr Boutcher said: “I’m aware there are concerns around Vincent Kearney, the journalist. I have enormous regard for him professionally and personally and will ensure that anything, any due process, anything that needs to be done, access to material for any concerns that anybody’s got, follows due process through the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, through Investigatory Powers Commissioner inspections and through this board.”

The claims emerged as part of a case already being examined by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) into allegations two other investigative reporters working in Northern Ireland have been subject to unlawful covert surveillance by police.

In 2018, Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney were controversially arrested as part of a police investigation into the alleged leaking of a confidential document that appeared in a documentary they made on a Troubles massacre.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) later unreservedly apologised for how the men had been treated and agreed to pay £875,000 (€1,022,900) in damages to the journalists and the film company behind the documentary.

In 2019, Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey lodged a complaint with the IPT, asking it to establish whether there had been any unlawful surveillance of them.

The tribunal is also examining two other instances of police surveillance against Mr McCaffrey, in 2013 and 2011. It sat for a brief hearing in February and is due to resume its work later in the year.

It is understood information suggesting Mr Kearney might also have been subject to surveillance emerged during the disclosure processes related to Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney’s case.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We have instructed lawyers to write to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal about the alleged PSNI surveillance of telephone data linked to the work of Vincent Kearney during his employment with the BBC, in connection with a BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight programme broadcast in 2011.

“We think that serious issues of public interest are involved, including in relation to the adverse effects that surveillance may have on journalistic investigations and freedoms.”

The 2011 Spotlight programme examined allegations that the independence of the office of the Police Ombudsman had been compromised and that it was not investigating complaints about police misconduct, including allegations of collusion, with sufficient rigour.

Former ombudsman Al Hutchinson rejected claims his investigations lacked independence. He resigned in January 2012.

[ Northern Ireland’s Policing Board urged to examine allegations of police surveilling journalists ]

Commenting on the claims of police surveillance against him, Mr Kearney said: “I am concerned that the police may have attempted to identify sources of information within a programme that was actually about the independence of the office of the Police Ombudsman.

“Journalists must be free to carry out their work without fear that the police may secretly try to identify sources, and I am determined to find out what happened.”

Last month, the PSNI delivered a report on surveillance of journalists and lawyers to its oversight body, the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

However, the document on surveillance practices will not be made public. Mr Boutcher has committed to the production of a second report, which will be published.

Seamus Dooley, the general secretary of the National of Journalists (NUJ) in Ireland, told RTÉ radio’s News at One it was not a surprise that many journalists had been under surveillance by the PSNI.