Local PI centre of insurance convictions

A Calverstown-based private investigation company is at the centre of a leak of social welfare information which resulted in three insurance companies making charity donations in the Dublin District Court for breaches of the Data Protection Act, writes Brian Byrne.

Donations of €20,000 each promised to be made to the Capuchin Day Centre for homeless people resulted in FBD, Zurich and Travellers Insurance being given the Probation Act, according to a report in today's Irish Times. All three defendants had pleaded guilty in prosecutions made following complaints from the Department of Social Protection.

The Department had noticed 'an unusual pattern' of access to its data base by an official. The same official had been making phone calls to specific numbers.

The court heard that investigation of phone records led to the offices of Reliance Investigation Services, based in Calverstown. VAT invoices found on the company's premises was 'critical evidence' in the case, the court was told.

Reliance Investigation Services was set up by Noel Buckley, who spent 24 years in the Special Investigation Branch of the Military Police in the Irish Defence Forces.

He retired in 1996 and then went into the private sector as an investigator, working for insurance companies, and large companies in both the private and semi-state sectors. His company subsequently went into the business of supplying stock-in-trade audio and visual recording devices, and electronic equipment to protect modern high-tech industries.

Reliance is involved in a range of areas, such as suspected fraudulent claims, tracking down assets, and locating people who have gone missing. But the business is no longer done 'in the shadows and alleyways', acording to its founder.

"Any reputable company works in the open these days, and has to respect the laws relating to the right to privacy of individuals. We also have to work within the terms of the Data Protection Act," he told the Diary some years ago.

The Dublin District Court was told the prosecuted companies were all registered with the Data Protection Commissioner to process information, which did not include social welfare information, not publicly available.

The relevant offences were sample ones, relating to 2010.


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