Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

Is the Minister telling me that the warrant that a guard will receive from that judge will be the exact same warrant, with the exact same criteria and powers as a normal search warrant if the guard did not realise it was a journalist? What is the point in the judge setting out the parameters of the search warrant and he or she needing to know if there is already an automatic assertion of journalistic privilege, which then would have to go through a screening because somebody has said he or she has journalistic privilege? What is the point of the judge? Does he or she set parameters for how that material is handled? Why would it not go back to the judge? Is it the judge who would decide, where the person then asserts that he or she has privileged information? Why would that not go back to the judge for that particular type of search warrant that encompasses journalistic privilege? I do not understand the point of the judge if a person can simply assert that there is journalistic privilege.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26