On 18 December 1982, ''Irish Times'' security correspondent Peter Murtagh broke the news that the telephone of Bruce Arnold and

Geraldine Kennedy Geraldine Kennedy (born 1 September 1951) is an Irish journalist and politician who served as the first female editor of ''The Irish Times'' newspaper. She previously served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1987 t ...

had been tapped officially with warrants signed by former Minister for Justice Seán Doherty. This was revealed after the November 1982 elections which the outgoing government had lost. Incoming Minister for Justice Michael Noonan ordered an investigation and on 20 January 1983 announced findings that the previous

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

government had authorised illegal phone tapping of the journalists Geraldine Kennedy, Bruce Arnold and

Vincent Browne Vincent Browne (born 17 July 1944) is an Irish people, Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with ''The Irish Times'' and ''The Sunday Business Post'' and a non-practising barrister. From 1996 until 2007, he presented a night ...

. Seán Doherty signed warrants for the taps while

Minister for Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. Normally phone tapping was used to investigate serious crime or threats to the security of the state but the reverse happened in this case, Minister Noonan announced.

History

Tapping

The phone tapping warrants were initiated by Séan Doherty in discussion with Deputy Garda Commissioner Joseph Ainsworth. The phone of Bruce Arnold was tapped from 10 May 1982 to 12 July the same year. The application was stated to be for security purposes, with a departmental record claiming he was "anti-national". The phone of Geraldine Kennedy was tapped from 28 July 1982 to 16 November that year with a renewal on 27 October on the grounds that it was "yielding results". For the tap on Kennedys' phone a new category of "national security" was created for the warrant. Deputy Commissioner Ainsworth requested a complete set of transcripts on 5 October 1982.

Senior Garda figures

The incoming cabinet met on 18 and 19 January 1983 and an initial draft of a decision expressed loss of confidence in Garda Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin and Deputy Commissioner Thomas Joseph Ainsworth and that they considered removing them from office, though this was removed from the final draft. On 20 January 1983 the cabinet met again and noted the intentions of both Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner to retire.

Findings by Deputy Commissioner Wren

Deputy Garda Commissioner Lawrence Wren found that neither Bruce Arnold or Geraldine Kennedy had been connected with criminal or subversive activities or people involved with same, that the request for the warrants had not come from the Gardaí but from then minister Séan Doherty and that copies of the recordings had been supplied to minister Doherty.

Resignation of Charles Haughey

Nearly a decade after the scandal broke, Seán Doherty announced at a press conference that he had shown transcripts of recordings to

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

in 1982 while the latter was still

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

. Until the press conference, Doherty had denied this. This led to Haughey's resignation as Taoiseach.

Settlements

Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold sued and won for the phone tapping and Vincent Browne settled out of court for earlier phone tapping.Irish Examiner, Bertie finally says sorry for '80s phone scandal
/ref>

References

External links

‘Ireland's Watergate’: How the phone tapping scandal would lead to Haughey's downfall… eventually
{{Garda Síochána 1982 in Ireland 1983 in Ireland 1982 scandals 1983 scandals December 1982 in Europe January 1983 in Europe Phone tapping scandal Garda Síochána History of Fianna Fáil Phone tapping scandal Political scandals in the Republic of Ireland Surveillance scandals Telephone tapping