If this violation of individual rights, which borders on cyber-stalking, goes unchallenged, then we cannot be certain how low this government will stoop to close down free speech and ‘shut’ people up.
The Health Minister has violated the exercise of free speech by awarding a €110,000 contract, apparently without proper tendering protocols, to spy on any members of the public and elected opposition public representatives, who expressed a contrary viewpoint to the government position on the pandemic, according to the Rural Independent Group.
Speaking today (Tuesday 16th November), the leader of the Rural Independent Group, Deputy Mattie McGrath, stated:
“Incredibly, the Minister’s Department handed out this surveillance contract without any public tendering process. If that wasn’t bad enough, they eventually handed over to Kinzen almost €110,000 to assist in supposably “combatting misinformation.”
“Curiously, this ‘misinformation’ was identical to any opinion that was critical of government or NPHET messaging.”
“The Minister must come before the Dáil and explain the twisted rationale for this. He must also explain why this company was given over €12,000 per month over a nine-month period until October, to execute surveillance on Irish citizens. Ironically, these same citizens would foot the bill for the entire secret operation. This is evidently an abuse of power with significant anti-democratic implications.”
“The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, and the Taoiseach must also explain what his justification is for violating the exercise of free speech in this country. At the heart of this contract was a concerted effort to censor peaceful critics, which violates many fundamental rights, including free speech, while doing nothing whatsoever to stop the pandemic.”
“This is a serious matter, and we believe that this action violates the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
“Cumulatively, this entire situation is a grotesque interference with the freedom of expression and stinks of this government’s overreach and draconian control over people’s freedoms. Domestic surveillance was commonplace under the Strasi in East Germany. This is a long way from what people want to see occurring under any government in Ireland.”
“The publication of detailed reports of Kinzen’s work for the Department has revealed troubling daily digests, seemingly focused on targeting anti-government speech or even good faith critiques of Covid policy. Many opposition TDs, including myself and the Rural Independent Group, are explicitly named in this material.”
“My colleague, Deputy Carol Nolan, obtained PQ responses from the Health Minister, confirming the existence of the lucrative Kinzen surveillance contract, which had the purpose to “report mis and disinformation topics… to my Department and the HSE”. This response raises further serious questions, as we now know that HSE bureaucrats intently used such surveillance material to brazenly have social media posts by journalists, academics and Oireachtas members removed from Twitter.”
“Bizarrely, even healthcare workers, who raise genuine concerns on social media or elsewhere, were reported to the Department. The fact that our loyal and diligent healthcare frontline staff should be subject to such monitoring is reprehensible.”
“The Health Minister must come clean on this crucial issue and any other related surveillance operations executed by his Department. Major questions must be answered – the legality of this surveillance, the awarding of a substantial contract devoid of required public tendering, and how the acquired information has been used to undermine people’s freedoms of speech and expression in our democracy.”
“It is inexcusable and anti-Irish to compile dossiers on one’s political opponents, particularly when those so-called opponents are the very individuals that were elected to serve the people. This is the information equivalent of political policing and it must be condemned,” concluded Deputy McGrath.
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