A High Court judge has ruled gardai can carry out a limited examination of the contents of a mobile phone seized from the home of a Roscommon journalist as part of their investigation into a violent incident in Strokestown almost two years ago.
Gardai have been given permission to access calls, texts, social media messages, photos, videos on the phone of Emmett Corcoran between December 11th and 17th 2018.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons refused to grant Mr. Corcoran and his company orders quashing a search warrant forcing him to hand over his phone when gardai arrived at his Strokestown home.
He had initiated judicial review proceedings within hours of a search of his home and seizure of his phone in April 2019 on foot of a search warrant issued by a District Judge in late 2018.
The phone was seized as part of a garda investigation into violence at a house in Falsk, Strokestown which had been repossessed in December 2018.
A number of persons are facing charges arising from that incident.
Following a tip-off, Mr Corcoran says he arrived at the scene and shot some phone footage which was put on the Democrat's website.
Before his phone was seized, Mr Corcoran, who invoked journalistic privilege some months earlier in relation to its contents, switched it off and refused to provide the PIN. He has provided gardai with a copy of the video shot by him and some photos.
Gardai had undertaken not to examine the phone pending the outcome of the judicial review.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Simons said while Mr Corcoran maintained the right to resist the examination and seizure of his phone, there is strictly speaking no such thing as journalistic privilege, the judge noted.
The relevant constitutional right, to freedom of expression, rather sought to protect the dissemination of information and public debate.
This right is "not absolute" and may have to yield to other countervailing public interests, including, relevantly in this case, in the proper investigation and prosecution of criminal offences.
He ruled gardai were entitled to carry out their proposed examination of the phone but their examination is limited to dates between December 11th and December 17th 2018.
Final orders will be made on a later date.
