Michael Noonan revealed on 20 January 1983 that the previous Fianna Fáil government had authorised illegal phone tapping of the journalists Geraldine Kennedy, Bruce Arnold[1][2][3] and Vincent Browne.[4] Seán Doherty signed warrants for the taps while Minister for Justice.
Nearly a decade after the scandal broke, Seán Doherty announced at a press conference that he had shown transcripts of recordings to Charles Haughey in 1982 while the latter was still Taoiseach. Until the press conference, Doherty had denied this. This led to Haughey's resignation as Taoiseach.[5]
Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold sued and won for the phone tapping and Vincent Browne settled out of court for earlier phone tapping.[6]