asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether the Government are concerned about reports that private and official communications by telephone and telex from this country are intercepted by GCHQ Cheltenham; and whether he has made representations to the British authorities on the subject.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers - Interception of Communications.
13.
Official communications from my Department to overseas destinations are transmitted in a secure manner. While it would not be appropriate for me to make public the details of the means employed for ensuring the security of such communications, I can assure the Deputy that all appropriate steps are taken, as a matter of course, to achieve this objective.
In so far as private telecommunications are concerned, my Department are not aware of any complaints concerning interception of the kind referred to in the Deputy's question.
Is the Minister aware of the allegations made by a former GCHQ Cheltenham employee that between 50 and 60 people are employed at Cheltenham in monitoring Irish telephone and telecommunications and moreover that many phone calls are being intercepted by signals intelligence from inside the British Embassy in Ballsbridge? Would the Minister agree that the systematic interception of diplomatic traffic between Ireland and Brussels by a foreign country would constitute an unfriendly act? Is he aware that allegations of interception of Irish diplomatic traffic have been made by a former employee of GCHQ Cheltenham and that evidence of an incident was given by Mr. Tim Pat Coogan recently in The Irish Press and also by Mr. Duncan Campbell an expert in this field? Is he aware that such allegations have not been denied at any time?
I am aware that such allegations were made. As I told the Deputy, official communications from my Department to overseas destinations are transmitted in a secure manner. While it would not be appropriate for me to make public the details of the means employed for ensuring the security of such communications, I can assure the Deputy that all appropriate steps are taken, as a matter of course, to achieve this objective.
Surely the Minister would agree that the Department of Foreign Affairs have not got a monopoly in transmitting Government information from this country to their representatives in other countries and that the particular area which is not dealt with by the Department of Foreign Affairs could be open to interception if there was an effort made to do that.
Official communications between this country and our embassies overseas are through my Department.
I accept the Minister's answer, but would he not agree that other Government Departments have representatives or agents abroad. For instance, all Departments of State in this city have their own people in Brussels to whom they want to talk. It is not all done through the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Does the Deputy mean they ring them up? I have had no complaints from any Department or any individual about their telecommunications being intercepted. The Deputy may say that if it is being done well we would not get complaints. The Deputy mentioned two people. I did not know about the former although I did about the latter. If proof is available in this regard I will be glad to do something about it.
Because of the fact that these allegations have been made in one instance by a former employee of GCHQ Cheltenham, would the Minister not feel that he should make inquiries to see if this is so. A serious allegation was made and it should not go unchecked.
This is the third or fourth question today of which allegations in newspapers were the subject matter. If I were to follow up every allegation made in the newspapers I would not have much time to do anything else.
Would the Minister not agree that this Government have one of the most costly information services any Government in this State ever had? The Government Press Secretary might be far better employed in devoting his attention to correcting allegations which may be untrue rather than writing critiques on Neil Kinnock the Leader of the Labour Party in Britain which we were not allowed to discuss here yesterday by the Ceann Comhairle.
The cost of running my office is considerably less than it was under former Ministers.
Would the Minister not agree that there are sufficient personnel available to the Government — perhaps not to the Minister — to deal with matters the Minister feels he has not being able to deal with?
My responsibility is to ensure that every official communication from the Government to any of their agents abroad is made in a secure manner and I am satisfied that is happening.