In a judgment handed down on 23 July 2026, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (Lady Carmichael, President, Mr Justice Chamberlain and Mr Stephen Shaw KC) has found that MI5 and PSNI authorities unlawfully accessed or used Vincent Kearney’s communications data between 2006 and 2018. Mr Kearney, who is currently RTÉ’s Northern Editor, was the Home Affairs Correspondent for BBC Northern Ireland at the time these incidents occurred.
Disclosure in another claim before the Tribunal revealed interferences by public authorities with Mr Kearney’s journalistic data. This prompted the BBC and Mr Kearney to file human rights claims with the Tribunal on 17 May 2024.
The IPT held that a number of authorisations failed to apply the correct legal test governing access to journalists’ communications data and source material and, as a result, concluded that the interferences were ‘not in accordance with the law’. Moreover, the Tribunal concluded that none of the authorisations were justified and proportionate.
The Tribunal determined that MI5 and the PSNI should each pay Mr Kearney £10,000 in damages.
The Tribunal made no determination in favour of Mr Kearney or the BBC in their claims against GCHQ, the Northern Ireland Office, the Secretary of State for the Home Department or the Secretary of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It also made no determination in favour of Christopher Moore who was also a BBC journalist and whose complaint was heard at the same time as the complaint by the BBC and Mr Kearney.
Jonathan Glasson KC was instructed with Rachel Toney – 36 Group as Counsel to the Tribunal.
Read the full judgment here.
Press Links: