On 18 December 1982, Irish Times security correspondent Peter Murtagh broke the news that the telephone of Bruce Arnold and Geraldine Kennedy had been tapped officially with warrants signed by former Minister for Justice Seán Doherty.
[1] Incoming Minister for Justice Michael Noonan ordered an investigation and on 20 January 1983 announced findings that the previous Fianna Fáil government had authorised illegal phone tapping of the journalists Geraldine Kennedy, Bruce Arnold[2][3][4] and Vincent Browne.
[1] Normally phone tapping was used to investigate serious crime or threats to the security of the state but the reverse happened in this case, Minister Noonan announced.
[1] The phone of Geraldine Kennedy was tapped from 28 July 1982 to 16 November that year with a renewal on 27 October on the grounds that it was "yielding results".
[6] Nearly a decade after the scandal broke, Seán Doherty announced at a press conference that he had shown transcripts of recordings to Charles Haughey in 1982 while the latter was still Taoiseach.