Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South I thank the Senator for tabling the amendment. I will not support it. The main reason I will not support it is the guidelines he asks that the legislation should implement should also be published and only approved if the Houses of the Oireachtas agree to them. We need to recognise that policing is a complicated and professional task. It requires expertise. There are many people out there, whether they want to threaten the security of the State, are organised criminals, drug dealers, who want to import weapons to Ireland or are involved in child sexual abuse and human trafficking. There are dangerous people out there and we need to make sure the public are protected from them. The people we use to protect us from them are An Garda Síochána; the only lawful entity in the State that can investigate the commission of criminal offences. It is an essential part of Garda work that members have access to and use covert human information sources. If we try to restrict An Garda Síochána in gaining access to covert human information sources we are undermining the protection that all of us in this House want to have the people protected by. That also applies in respect of covert investigative activities. It is the case, however, and I fully agree with the Senator McDowell, that there must be ethical standards operated by An Garda Síochána. However, ethical standards do not require regulations made by a Minister and then approved by politicians in both Houses of the Oireachtas. We have a very stringent oversight system for review of the behaviour of An Garda Síochána in terms of the Policing and Community Safety Authority, Fiosrú and I as Minister, as the Senator will know as well, having oversight over the activities and methods of An Garda Síochána. The Bill seeks to codify the Garda powers of stop, search and seizure as well as search warrants, and the remaining Garda powers will be codified at a later stage. Legal issues in relation to covert human intelligence sources, or controlled deliveries, are addressed regularly in the courts. Operations that involve the use and conduct of a covert human intelligence source must be conducted in accordance with law and must be carried out in compliance with human rights obligations under the Constitution and the principles of the ECHR. The management and use of covert human intelligence sources is already governed within An Garda Síochána by detailed policy and operational procedures, which provide that operations involving such covert human intelligence sources must be conducted in accordance with law and in compliance with constitutional and ECHR obligations. The policy framework also provides for internal Garda oversight and external independent oversight. The admissibility of evidence obtained during covert operations is ultimately a matter for the courts, including in circumstances where issues relating to entrapment, proportionality or fair procedures are raised. Operational policies in this area must remain capable of being updated quickly in response to court judgments, operational learning and evolving criminal activity. For those reasons, it is not appropriate to create a new statutory, regulatory regime for such matters in this Bill. In fact, it would be damaging to the public interest and to the work being done by An Garda Síochána seeking to investigate and ensure those involved in serious criminality are prosecuted. I will also speak briefly to amendment No. 5, which is in this group. This amendment is out of scope because it establishes an exclusionary rule of evidence tied to the proposed section 6 guidelines, which are not relevant to this legislation. Therefore I cannot support amendments Nos. 4 or 5. Finally, in respect of amendment No. 54, I believe this amendment is also out of scope. The 2023 revised general scheme explicitly narrowed the scope of this legislation to address urgent specific gaps regarding stop and search, digital access and custody safeguards following Supreme Court rulings in Quirke and Corcoran, expanding the Long Title to include general governance guidelines goes beyond this expedited mandate and introduces requirements that do not align with the focused statutory fixes now being advanced. I assure the Senator that when it comes to covert human information sources and activities that there are strict policies in place within An Garda Síochána as to how those sources and activities can operate. Any time they go before the courts, they are subject to the supervisory conduct of the courts. Any unethical behaviour or behaviour seen to be in breach of constitutional or convention rights will not be tolerated and as well as that, the Garda Commissioner, Fiosrú, the Policing and Community Safety Authority and I would not permit covert activities that were unethical or in breach of convention or constitutional rights. However, we need to recognise that when it comes to investigating and trying to stop serious criminals, it is a difficult and tough business and sometimes it does require members of An Garda Síochána to engage in undercover work. Sometimes it does require them to send human resources into a dangerous situation to find out information about serious criminal activity. If I were mandated by legislation to draft and sign regulations that would set out the circumstances the Garda can use covert investigative activities and covert human information sources and if I were to come to the Seanad or the Dail to get approval for them, the Garda would come to a standstill in investigating serious crime. For that reason, I cannot accept the amendment. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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