Clare's Labour TD has called for answers as to why public money was used to install surveillance equipment at Garda Stations throughout the country, including Ennis.
A tender issued in 2007 listed the county's largest Garda Station as one of 27 nationwide where such a system was to be installed.
It included hard drives to store communications and allowed some Gardaí to log in from remote locations and listen to calls recorded at local stations – it's not known if the system was ever used in Ennis, and the government says the practice of making recordings was discontinued last November.
In the Dáil last night, Deputy Michael McNamara described the revelation as a ‘shock’, and asked who had authorised the spending of public money on the equipment.
