PROPOSED LEGISLATION ALLOWING GARDAI TO COMPEL JOURNALISTS TO HAND OVER THEIR PHONES AND DEVICES ALONG WITH PASSWORDS COULD PREVENT WHISTLEBLOWERS FROM COMING FORWARD TO REPORT WRONGDOING.
Dr Cian Ó Concubhair Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the Department of Law, NUI Maynooth raises major concern about proposed legislation that would give Gardai the power to seize journalists’ phones and devices and demand the passwords.
“If journalists are forced to reveal sources, future potential sources may not come forward, and serious wrongdoing may not, as a result, come to light: or so the thinking goes,” he says. His full opinion piece is here https://www.thejournal.ie/.../garda-powers.../.