Former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney spied on twice in 2006 and 2009
MI5 has admitted illegally spying on respected RTÉ journalist Vincent Kearney.
Details emerged during a hearing of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London on Monday.
The tribunal looks at complaints from people who believe they have been the victim of unlawful covert interference.
It emerged during Monday’s hearing that MI5 unlawfully obtained data from the the well-known journalist’s phone on two occasions in 2006 and 2009 when he worked with the BBC in Belfast.
Mr Kearney is the current Northern Ireland Editor with RTÉ.
A barrister for Mr Kearney said the development has “very obvious implications for MI5″
“Certainly with regards those interferences in 2006 and 2009,” he said.
“And it may also have an obvious implication for any other interference which has hitherto only been set out in closed and in respect of which MI5 continues to ‘neither confirm nor deny’ (NCND).”
NCND is routinely used by state agencies to avoid providing information on sensitive issue.
It is understood MI5 admitted last week that it had carried out unlawfully surveillance of Mr Kearney on two occasions over a three-year period.
Mr Kearney’s case emerged as part of proceedings involving two other Belfast journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, last year.
The IPT later found that the PSNI and Metropolitan Police acted illegally by spying on Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney to identify their sources.
Mr Kearney described the development as “unprecedented” adding it is “deeply concerning” for himself and other journalists.
by askmac
5 comments
Are they never not “at it”?
Never trust the british government or any of its institutions. They’re always operating in bad faith or doing something nefarious.
Considering the psni illegally spying on journalists and solicitors (multiple times), I’m starting to imagine that these are linked and mi5 has been telling the psni to commit these unlawful acts.
Good day to get the bad NI news out.
Elsewhere
[British may have been bugging Irish during Brexit talks, says Varadkar](https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/british-may-have-been-bugging-irish-during-brexit-talks-says-varadkar/a913587797.html)
Genuinely curious to hear from any of the self proclaimed Moderate or Small-U Unionists on this matter since they often chime in one constitutional or local political issues but I don’t recall seeing any such commentary on this.
It strikes me as a fundamental issue in multiple ways: The PSNI CHief Constable has said there’s a £200 million pound budget shortfall for policing; that’s stopping police from doing their jobs. Potentially saving lives. And yet here’s a seemingly unlimited budget for illegal spying. Nearly a thousand lawyers and journalists being spied on by the PSNI to cover up the RUC’s crimes. Where’s the money coming from? Who is okaying it?
And furthermore, it goes right to the heart of why Nationalists still continue to distrust the NI “state”, the security forces and the notion of a shared society. This is genuine deep state / Banana republic / secret police shit. How is there even a scrap of justification for this? How is NI supposed to “work” for CNR people when the state itself is clearly actively engaging in deeply sectarian, ultra partisan not to mention illegal behaviour.
Laws for thee but not for me, is anything more quintessentially British.
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