Secret hearing on police surveillance scandal

Six County ‘Justice Minister’ Naomi Long has rejected calls to hold an independent inquiry into the spying on journalists by the police.

In recent weeks there have been revelations that the PSNI carried out surveillance and data trawling operations directed at journalists it described as “troublemakers”.

It has emerged that the PSNI had been sifting through large amounts of phone data every six months to establish if certain journalists had been in contact with members of the force.

Spying on lawyers and non-governmental organisations is also reported to have taken place.

Details of the surveillance came to light at the London based Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which is examining allegations that two investigative journalists, Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, were subjected to unlawful surveillance as they investigated police collusion in loyalist atrocities such as the Loughinisland massacre.

An unknown number of journalists were placed under surveillance in what the PSNI described as a “defensive operation”.

SDLP leader Matthew O’Toole called on the Stormont Assembly this week to affirm “that the press cannot be expected to operate effectively if journalists can be intimidated, harassed or subject to unwarranted or unjustified surveillance”.

Mr O’Toole called on Long “to launch an independent inquiry into the alleged use of wiretapping and other unlawful practices against journalists”.

He said the surveillance revelations “have caused grave concern” since they came to light.

“We must also send a clear message to the PSNI that this can’t happen again in future.”

But Minister Long turned down calls for an independent inquiry.

During an assembly debate on Tuesday, the Alliance leader said that “given the ongoing nature of the deliberations of the Policing Board and of the IPT it would not therefore be appropriate to act in advance of that work”.

Senior PSNI figures are presenting a special report into the scandal to members of the Policing Board on Thursday, 6 June. However, the decision to hold that meeting in secret has increased public concern over the situation.

Ahead of the meeting, PSNI Chief Jon Boutcher announced an “independent review” into the scandal. He announced an English barrister would conduct the review of any PSNI use of surveillance against journalists, lawyers and non-governmental organisations.

He claimed there had been an “inaccurate interpretation” of documents disclosed in the IPT hearing, and that the censored names of eight journalists subjected to surveillance released to the hearing “relate to a completely different matter”.

In a statement following the announcement, Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney (pictured) again called for a public inquiry, insisting that “sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

“We reiterative our call on the Policing Board to meet its full statutory responsibilities and not allow the chief constable to pick the referee and set the rules of the game,” they said.

“Only a full public inquiry with the power to compel witnesses will enable us to find out the full, ugly truth of what the PSNI has been doing in the dark.”

Local Amnesty International director Patrick Corrigan said the review was an “important step towards full disclosure”.

“However, we are also clear that this review cannot fulfil the same role as a statutory inquiry,” he said.

Urgent Appeal