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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the stories you need to know as you start your day.
1. #JOB CUTS: Irish Water has been given the go-ahead by Government to bring in a voluntary redundancy scheme, the Irish Independent reports. It is part of a plan to reduce costs by €85 million by 2020.
2. #WATER CHARGES: Socialist MEP Paul Murphy has said he believes only a ‘tiny minority’ of people will be brought to court for boycotting water charges if there are high levels of non-payment.
3. #LONDON: 14 people have been injured in a suspected gas explosion at the five-star Hyatt Regency London hotel.
4. #TRAGEDY: An investigation into the death of two men at a Donegal farm is set to get underway. It is understood the men died after a tractor tyre they were changing exploded.
5. #WESTPORT: Minister for Sports Michael Ring has denied any involvement in his hometown soccer club receiving a €200,000 grant for the second year in a row. The Irish Daily Mail reports that TDs intend to raise the issue in the Dáil this week.
6. #POLICING: As many as one-in-ten Garda Reservists quit in the first ten months of this year, the Irish Mirror reports. There are currently just over 1,110 in the reserve force.
7. #FERGUSON: Reuters reports that two men suspected of planning to denote explosives during protests have been arrested. President Barack Obama has urged for calm ahead of the grand jury ruling.
8. #MILITANTS: An attack on a bus in Kenya by a Somali militant group has left 28 people dead, AFP reports.
9. #TOY WARS: Gardaí were called to a toy shop in north Dublin yesterday after a row broke out between parents trying to get their hands on Elsa dolls from Disney film Frozen.
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I’d say a pulsing something else had something to do with it…ha ha…
Not if Clare Daly was one of them
She’s hardly model material now
Awh so what! I’m sure there was no malice intended. They looked up a model, big deal, get over it!
Sorry but it’s not acceptable to look up other people’s personal information if you’ve no need for it just because you’re nosey. It may be human nature but if they’re guards they have to put their position of trust over they’re eagerness to have a snoop at a model’s records. How are the public expected to have faith in the gardai with that kind of carry-on? Disappointed but not surprised, tbh.
Exactly the attitude that is slowly eroding people’s concept of privacy.
So if it was you that was snooped on by… oh.. say… ME then that’s also ok?
Maybe I’ll come over and look through your bedroom window and all.
Random guards should not be accessing this information… They are human like everyone else.. What’s stopping them blabbing this information to the general public after a few pints… Only certain personal should have access rights to pulse.
It’s at their disposal I’m sure you pc goons would be prim and proper and 100% by the book!
Yeah we would be 100% proper because in my job I’d be FIRED if did this kind of privacy violation.
But it’s not a violation
The fact that the have signed the official secrets act is what is “stopping them from blabbing” this story is a non event
This opinion in the report is wholly inadequate an unacceptable. That there were also searches on RTE people suggests a more sinister purpose. Having info on various people immediately empowers those with the info and can ‘encourage’ a particular slant when needed. This information can ales be a valuable resource to certain elements in the media. Personally I think aspects of this report is damning but has been dressed up to appear otherwise probably on the suggestion of a certain commissioner.
No big deal. It’s not like it was the Guards who were doing it ….
Just a group of teenagers acting like teenagers.
oh wait!
It’s a good job that it’s only the guards who have access to pulse and not the media! So count your blessings!
Yaya
But the whole point at issue is that the whistle blowers repeatedly mined information from Pulse and shared it with the “public” AFTER they had made their official complaints.
That is the point made by the Garda Commissioner and now supported by Commissioner Hawkes and of course……………….Minister Shatter.
Why do we want one law for one Garda and a different law for another?
Because if senior Gardaí do not investigate crime and corruption we have the dual standard you fear, Richie.
Call me old fashioned, but I think the standard that we expect from our Guards should be a little higher than just “no malice intended”.
That actually doesn’t make sense Neal. You can say ‘they signed up for it’ and ‘they took an oath’ until the cows come home. They’re humans like the rest of us and no malice intended is enough for me. When a person doesn’t mean or intend to do anything improper how on earth do you ‘expect more’ ?
Is it possible for a citizen to make an application to view what information is being stored about them on the pulse system? Or would one have to ask a garda friend (if possible) to check it out for them?
Freedom of info request is all you need and a lot of patience while the Blueshirts huff puff,delay,spout Bull about national security andtry everything in their power to make you give up and go away.
I would advise you not to draw that unwanted attention on to yourself. Lest they make an example of you.
I got a list of some of my interactions with the Gardaí, not all of them, which indicates AGS are very selective about what they put on PULSE and gives some credence to the question Maurice McCabe asked about innocent people being set up.
For anybody who feels they are under a suspect investigation, the only way you can confirm that you are is to fill in an FOI form and wait for a reply that states they cannot provide you with information while an investigation is pending. Instruct a solicitor to request details of the allegation, and after they give up, redo an FOI request to see what was put on PULSE.
Very revealing in my case. Billy Hawkes will hear about it when GSOC has access to PULSE.
Let sleeping dogs lie for gods sake !! They might find something they’d forgotten about you ….
Edel,
The point is you can now prove when they are making it up. Ian Baileys legal team are hammering out rights to access PULSE data.
For those who have nothing to fear from their own actions, letting sleeping dogs lie is to allow those who own the dogs to get away with scienter. Most dogs wake up.
OP, yes it’s an F20 form
http://www.garda.ie/Documents/User/Data%20Protection%20F20%20-%20Nov%2012.pdf
Best €13 euro you can spend. It’s like DIY plumbing – it needs 2 trips to the store.
It’s just goes to show the Garda are watching us who is watching the Garda
The data commissioner and gsoc…
Then you will have another enter on your file , as a trouble maker and activist and very bell known to garda
Well
You’re new to the idea of data protection, Pat James.
Worryingly, when you say “your file” – you don’t say PULSE.
I am very well known to Gardaí, which doesn’t bother me. It’s what some Gardaí said they knew about me that creates the problem.
Well
The model is probably thinking to herself in the words of Pat Mustard: “Im so gorgeous they want to put me under arrest!”
My guess is that the model in question is either dead or the daughter of a famous maudlin singer.
My guess is it’s Georgia Salpa and the Gardai are looking at her Pulse file whilst ogling bikini shots of her in the Star
Or a certain model who kicked a developer in the buccaneers!
No it was strictly a driving issue. Gardaí needed to check her airbags.
Wonder did she get a report on the results—Seriously though there is a model out there who has had her constitutional right to privacy abused on more than 80 occasions—and all we hear is that a few coppers were disciplined.Hawkes ASSUMES that it was idle curiosity or snooping—this is not very satisfactory–he should be able to make a much more definitive statement.
Wonder what redress is open to the model?
And will the Gardai who did the snooping be sacked, doubt it. I worked in an irish retail bank, the temptation was always there to look up celebs, friends, neighbours etc bank balance. However, what stopped the majority was knowing that if found out your job would almost certainly be gone
I know plenty of people in banks that did do it.
Me too, my ex worked for one of the countries better known banks and said it was rampant. A holier than thou approach to this matter isn’t helpful.
It’s good to know that the only thing stopping you was the fear of getting caught. Wouldn’t want bank staff to be impeded by a sense of right and wrong.
no–a few have been disciplined though–no further details given–probably additional homework
The names of the Gardai who looked up these records are known and if they were not supposed to there is a simple solution, sack them like any other bad employee.
That is what would happen in the private sector but there professionalism, integrity and competence are taken seriously.
Because the top rank of Gardai were quashing penalty points for their friends in high places by the dozen the Gardai at the bottom were just having a look who next was going to get off it’s a terrible pity more snooping was not done never know what friends were been let of , I am delighted the big boys were caught out .
My apologies text should read let off
I work in the public sector and totally agree with that comment, it baffles me how bad employees cannot be sacked in the public service. It would make my life a whole lot easier if they could do a massive clear out of the lazy, dead weight time wasters.
Alan what you do with the big boys at the top who started it all one thing here is certain the guys at the top get away Scott free while a example is made out of the guys at the bottom .
A work colleagues husband is a Garda. They are in the process of building a house by direct labour. He has checked every potential contractor on Pulse and also their vehicle registration. That is wrong. I’m sure he’s not the only one doing it either
Checking of daughters boyfriends, house tenants etc etc etc. All considered normal and acceptable in our above the law and ethics be damned police service.
@SeanieRyan; You are absolutely OBSESSED with guards. Every article that in any way relates to them is littered with comments from you underneath it. What does this vendetta stem from?!
Seanie
Yes you are one hundred percent correct. So you agree with the Data Commissioners findings and with the views of Commissioner Callinan?
Joanne you should report that person anonymously via the confidential Garda tip line. Request a report number so you can follow up if needed.
Report the person anonymously and also request a number to follow it up?
What’s new
Publicly shy model the subject of pulse porn shock!!!
This is unbelievable! There are no rules against accessing people’s details without a valid operational reason!? The ways this can be abused are unending.
There have been prosecutions and sackings in the UK police for this very behaviour, why on earth do we not have similar laws protecting us?
Good money in selling info to Red Top journalists/insurance companies
Because we are Irish. Because our parliament is full of self-interested pot hole fillers. Because we don’t do professionalism in our public services. Because …
I am at a complete loss as to why this doesn’t severely p!ss people off.
I support the Guards, I don’t trust individual Guards to ignore their own selfish interests. Accessing details outside of their job scope is so incredibly wrong I’m amazed people aren’t more angry.
Course the deflecting headline (ooh, they looked up a model) has managed to divert the attention away from the fact that this SHOULD be a serious breach of the publics privacy.
Tricia
We do!
They lose more of my respect by the day. They can do what they want it seems. Banana republic.
Retired Gadai were being employed by Insurance firms to check on insurance claims and people making claims were regularly checked…..gives you the cutting edge in court cases you know…..wink wink
“Gadaí” is Irish for “robber”.
You got a lot of red thumbs from Gardai who red thumbed before they read what was actually written
@ Lara. So if you take one letter away from the Irish word for policemen, you get the Irish word for robber. Wow. Mind blown.
She’s commenting on snores spelling mistake.
Apt name for him too since his lies are making me snooooore….
Clever, Lara . In my autopilot reading of you comment I red thumbed you! Sorry! My mind is also blown by the difference between gadai and gardai.
just looking after their pals
Wonder how many retired Gardaí with an inside track are in the employment of insurance companies
Why do we only ever hear from Hawkes when he’s got something damning to say ? Quiet the autocrat. And who audits his office on data protection matters ? They must have a load of data in there with no legitimate reason for having it. Either that or their paper shredding bill must be through the roof.
Agree, and you have to wonder about the timing of his intervention, and the way RTE lunchtime News reported it yesterday!
Tony
That’s an ignorant comment to make. The Commissioner was commenting on the results of a statutory audit into the Gardai which is the principal function of his role as Data Commissioner.
Richard
If the Garda report had no findings do you think Hawkes would be out saying that’s the way to do it and others should follow the example ? No he wouldn’t because he has no interest in productivity, he’s completely reactive and always has been.
I meant proactivity, not productivity.
Surely the Gardas are subject to the same data protection rules as every other person in the state. I had to sign data protection stuff in several jobs regarding non disclosure of information and inappropriate use (including access), it seems just because you wear a uniform and carry a badge you are some how exempted. Access should be by request only if this sort of carry on exists
and gadai breaking data protection rules will be ruthlessly hunted down by………………..Gadai
Wtf is going on with our Garda? it’s one thing after another lately, I despair.
Is it not possible that some of our boys in blue are using pulse to give information to criminal elements for payment of some kind
It happened in the UK, no reason why it couldn’t happen here.
If not, It would be the only police force in history.
No disrespect to them but I can understand why any guard goes into work and does anything. Surely they can go in keep their head down do sfa and pick up their check at the end of the month. Like from what I’ve read lately if they use pepper spray handcuffs, batons, arrest someone who has connections politicians wealthy folk or even toerags with a politician on speed dail they get in serious trouble. Now their being restricted on pulse access, I for one have nothin to hide bar I’ve been a victim of crime I doubt I’m on their system. I think they should be able to look up celebrities and politicians etc, at least it means someone’s watchin them. Anyway if I were them I’d do nothin and still get paid.
You sound like exactly the type they are looking for. You should get an application form.
Meh its none story. No corruption involved. Guards get ticking off from bosses big deal. Hardly big new story
So the Data Protection Comission selected celebrities and other ‘well known’ persons to look up to see if they were being looked up? Are they exempt from the legislation? Surely they cannot pick random people and go on a fishing expedition to see if those names are being accessed? Were complaints made to the Data Protection Commission from the same people they looked up beforehand? If it was me I haven’t given any person to look me up without my consent and I include the Data Protection staff in this.
More like stalking not snooping
Snoop doggie dog was the celeb involved.
Half a story whos the model? n whos the guard?
Kenny is a wimp Leo
Varadkar would be a great Taoiseach
I think this is “Disgusting”.
have your say