Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Frances Black (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I agree with Senator McDowell. We have to challenge the ruling that this amendment is out of order on financial grounds. I think the Minister is saying that this needs a money message. That is wrong and I will say a little on the reason I think it is wrong. This amendment does not appropriate funds. It does not create a scheme, establish an entitlement or set up a new body. It imposes a recording obligation on an existing power. Gardaí already stop and search. All this amendment asks is that when they do, they note the ethnicity. I know my colleague Senator Ruane has an amendment about the locality of the person who is stopped. It is a data field. It is a check-box. That is all it is. The idea that adding a field to an existing Garda recording system constitutes a charge on the Exchequer stretches that concept beyond any reasonable interpretation. I would argue that it is being used here not to protect public finances but to avoid the debate the Government does not want to have.
As others have said, the PSNI records ethnicity in stop and search. It is a standard practice across these islands and across Europe. If it is good enough for policing in the North, it should be good enough here. We already collect equality monitoring data across health, housing and employment. The courts record ethnicity. The State does this routinely. None of this has been ruled a cost to the Exchequer. The cost of not collecting this data is far greater. The cost is paid in litigation, in Fiosrú investigations and in the erosion of trust between An Garda Síochána and minorities, such as the Traveller community. Accountability data does not cost money. It actually saves it. Ireland has binding obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and under EU equality law, so we cannot hide behind a procedural ruling to avoid discharging these obligations.
The cost to the Exchequer mechanism exists to prevent Private Members from raiding the public purse. It was never intended and should never be used to block an accountability and human rights measure like this one. I ask that the Minister reconsider this ruling. This amendment should be accepted today. I really do hope the Minister changes his mind on this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14