Vol. 200 No. 4
asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons in (a) Dublin, (b) Cork, (c) Galway, and (d) the remainder of the State whose mail is opened or examined by the postal authorities under instruction from him or the Garda authorities, and the number of persons whose names have been added since 31st January, 1963, to the list of those whose mail is examined.
54.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons in (a) Dublin, (b) Cork, (c) Galway and (d) the remainder of the State whose telephones are tapped by the postal authorities under instructions from him or the Garda authorities, and the number of persons whose names have been added since 31st January 1963 to the list of those whose telephones are tapped.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions 53 and 54 together.
The power to intercept postal or telephone communications is exercised pursuant to warrants issued under the hand seal of the Minister for Justice. Any such warrant is issued on the personal authority of the Minister which is given only where the warrant is required for security purposes or for the prevention or detection of serious crime, information as to which could be got in no other way.
It would not be in the public interest to disclose information as to the number of warrants in force at any particular time.
