NUJ responds to claim of further PSNI source protection breach
The NUJ has responded after an investigative journalist filed a high court claim against the Police Services of Northern Ireland (PSNI) for unlawfully obtaining communications in order to identify journalistic sources.
The journalist, who reports on crime and paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland, has been granted anonymity and can only be identified as 'YZL'. The journalist is seeking compensation for misuse of private information, harassment and breaches of the Data Protection Act.
The claim follows the vindication of NUJ members Trevor Birney, Barry McCaffrey and most recently Vincent Kearney in hearings at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) over unlawful surveillance by PSNI and other security forces.
In 2025 an independent review by Angus McCullough KC identified 21 cases involving eight journalists where the PSNI had attempted to identify journalists’ confidential sources. McCullough determined that the PSNI's Code of Practice between 2007 and 2015 failed to consider whether or not these authorisations were justified by an "overriding public interest" and thus “must be considered unlawful”.
The review findings were accepted in writing by the chief constable of the PSNI, Jon Boutcher. While the NUJ has welcomed the McCullough Review, its limited scope highlights the need for a broader, independent public inquiry to investigate the full extent of systemic and unlawful spying operations targeting journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in Northern Ireland - not only by PSNI but also other police forces and MI5.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
"Allegations that the PSNI attempted to uncover another journalist's sources are deeply worrying. Journalists have a right to protect their sources and to report without fear or state interference.
"This is not an isolated incident. In recent years the NUJ has supported journalists Barry McCaffrey, Trevor Birney, and Vincent Kearney in exposing unlawful surveillance through the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. In a landmark judgment in July, the Tribunal ordered PSNI and MI5 to pay £10,000 each in damages for breaching Kearney's right to source protection, which subjected him to considerable risk as a journalist working in a post-conflict society.
"The new Northern Ireland Secretary and the Chief Constable have an opportunity to restore public trust. The NUJ will be monitoring this case and continuing to call for a judge-led inquiry that is broader in scope into unlawful surveillance against journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in Northern Ireland by police and security forces."