Above: Satellite dishes at the secretive General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) near Cheltenham, England.
The Workers’ Party has condemned the government’s signing of a Statutory Instrument giving foreign law enforcement authorities the right to intercept Irish telephone calls and electronic communications such as email and text messages.
Workers’ Party President Michael Donnelly said that the decision was profoundly undemocratic and in particular criticised the fact that any phone or internet company not complying with an intercept order can be brought to what is effectively a secret court.
Mr. Donnelly said that the instrument, signed by Minister Frances Fitzgerald and which is now in force, retrospectively legalises the illegal tapping of Irish phones by the top-secret CCHQ spy centre in Britain which has gone on for years.
“Recently the American whistle-blower Edward Snowden released secret documents from the US National Security Agency which confirmed the involvement of GCHQ and the US and British governments in tapping Irish telecommunications. The Irish government’s response, instead of outrage, has been to grant these spies carte blanche to continue and increase their surveillance of Irish citizens and indeed of the state itself”.
The Workers’ Party President said the government decision showed utter contempt for the Irish people and had abandoned all pretence of acting like a sovereign nation.