2011-05-01 IrishLeaks Launches Submission Platform

Please note: Reportage on IrishLeaks and other leaking platforms should not be read as an endorsement by WL Central - prospective leakers are urged to satisfy themselves of the trustworthiness of their intended recipients and to take precautions to ensure their own anonymity.

Today marks the launch of IrishLeaks, an implementation of the Wikileaks model for anonymous leaking platforms in the Republic of Ireland. The platform has received some coverage in domestic Irish news in recent days. IrishLeaks is apparently unaffiliated with Wikileaks in any way. The site now claims to be operational, and open to submissions.

IrishLeaks is the latest in a string of regional Wikileaks-style anonymous whistleblower platforms that have been set up since Wikileaks began to garner international attention, the most active of which has been Balkanleaks. WL Central listed some of these organizations here.

The "About" section of the site reads:

[T]he IrishLeaks project will provide a system that will help whistleblowers who want to shed light on abuses of power within the Republic of Ireland remain anonymous. IrishLeaks is a platform for the Irish people, making it easier to share and discover information about the abuses of power affecting the people in the Republic of Ireland. We are creating a secure and anonymous service that accepts information from wherever there is an abuse, whether it be in government, private industry, not for profit organisations, or even organised crime. That information will be published right here on this website. By doing this we hope to encourage a fairer, more honest society in which openness and transparency become something to be valued, making it easier to stop a misuse of power by creating a place where it can be published, read and spread by others.

The site claims to implement a secure submission platform, which removes all data from submitted documents. The organization commits to verifying documents and scrubbing them of personal data:

Our process is in line with those of similar leaking platforms. Once a document is submitted through our submission system, we will start by verifying its authenticity. Once this is completed we will remove any personal private data which might put innocent individuals at risk. Finally, we will publish the document on our website, making it available for everyone to read.

IrishLeaks arrives at a time of a significant lapse in public trust within Irish society. Since 2008, Ireland has been beset by crisis in the banking sector and faltering government, leading to an EU/IMF bailout in late 2010. A general election in March saw the electorate replacing the dominant Fianna Fáil party, and replacing it with a coalition between Fine Gael and Labour, normally the dominant opposition parties.

A recent Millward Browne Landsdowne poll indicated that, out of a list of different professions, politicians and corporate officials enjoy the least trust from the Irish public. This is borne out in another poll carried out as part of the Edelman Global Trust Barometer, where figures suggest that trust in public and private institutions in Ireland is lower than anywhere else in Europe.

A similar situation in Iceland - accompanied by a banking scandal caused by a leak to Wikileaks - led to a strong programme of law reform, and a heightened awareness of the importance of a free press. An NGO, Transparency International Ireland, in a 2010 report, recommended a similar programme for Ireland to strengthen institutional mechanisms for whistleblowing as a means of dealing with corruption in the public and private sectors. While the new government has pledged to pass a Whistleblower Bill, across-the-board reform along the Icelandic model has yet to materialize as a discernable political programme. IrishLeaks is the first indication that the global transparency movement represented by Wikileaks might be taking hold in the Republic of Ireland.

The test of the site - if it is successful in receiving material of significant public interest in Ireland - will be whether it is successful in protecting the anonymity of its sources, while also fighting off legal challenges.

The site is accessible here. A twitter account is accessible here.

Please note: Reportage on IrishLeaks and other leaking platforms should not be read as an endorsement by WL Central - prospective leakers are urged to satisfy themselves of the trustworthiness of their intended recipients and to take precautions to ensure their own anonymity.