Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-27 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South I thank all Senators for their contributions. I will try to deal with the issues they have raised. I agree with Senator Gallagher that one of the benefits of the Bill is that it will prevent gardaí having to spend hours ploughing through vast amounts of data or video footage. I saw that myself this time last year when I was in Store Street Garda station. At the time, a number of gardaí were spending hours going through video footage from the Dublin riots which had taken place in November 2023. There were trying to identify individuals in the video footage to see whether they were the same as the people they had other video footage of going to a different location. The Bill will have a real benefit in terms of An Garda Síochána freeing up Garda time so that we can use technology and, rather than gardaí having to sit in front of video screens for long periods of time, technology can be used and gardaí can be freed to do other more important and productive work. Senator Gallagher is correct in that what we are talking about here is balancing the rights of privacy with the right of the public to be protected and giving more powers to gardaí. I thank Senator McDowell for his full support. He said that the Bill may be too restrictive. As I mentioned earlier, more legislation will be coming forward. When gardaí are looking at video footage in, say, Store Street, the technology will be able to assist them because they will be able to find out rapidly whether the person they saw robbing a shop during the riot in November 2023 is the same as the person getting off a bus in Rathmines, where there will be other video footage available. That will clarify matters. That is why it is called retrospective biometric analysis. It is not measuring against a database of identifiable people. Instead, someone is looking to see whether the face or image in one piece of video footage is the same as that in another. It is so important in missing persons inquiries because he or she will have the image of the person and be able to check to see whether it is the same as in another piece of footage. I noted what the Senator said about the data retention rules and the rulings of the CJEU. As a result of the decision of the CJEU, we do not have a modern legislative instrument from Europe that deals with data retention. It really is important for the purpose of police investigations, not just in Ireland but also throughout the rest of Europe, that there be a live and effective directive or regulation in place for the purpose of data retention for law enforcement. When serious crimes are committed, the public expect that all available information that can be investigated for the purpose of resolving the crime will be used. Senator Boyhan spoke about the Oireachtas Library and Research Service team. Its work is excellent. I am aware of the recommendations of the Oireachtas joint committee on justice. As has been indicated, some of the recommendations have been included. I will examine further the library document to which the Senator referred. We need to use modern technology. Sometimes people are fearful of it. In the Lower House, there were references to reports that show this type of technology can be inaccurate but many of those reports are from many years ago. The technology has advanced considerably. I am sure most of us here use it for the purpose of unlocking our phones or accessing banking information. It is technology that is advancing every day. Two days ago, the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, and I were in Dublin Airport to launch the new eGates. That is a real example of biometric facial analysis. A person puts their passport in and a photograph is then taken of his or her face. The system compares the photograph of the person in the airport with the face on the passport being analysed. This technology is getting better all the time and we should not be fearful of it. Particularly because criminals are now using technology to advance their criminality, we should be using it to stand up to them. I very much welcome the support from Senator Kelleher. He correctly spoke about AI and the fact that modern challenges require modern methods of investigation. That reiterates the point I just mentioned. We need modern methods of investigation and we should not stay away from them because they are new or modern. Years ago, maybe when Senator McDowell was Minister for Justice, there was concern as to whether DNA evidence would be reliable. We have now gone through many years of expertise with DNA technology and science, and the evidence has proven to be very reliable. It has resulted in many cases being solved. We have to move with the times in using technology. I thank Senator Collins for her contribution and recognition that the camera technology can play a positive role. She said that she, like many, I am sure, fears living in a surveillance society. In many respects, however, and not just through the State, there are cameras everywhere. When a crime has been committed, one of the first things that An Garda will do is seek to get camera footage, whether from cars passing by or shops in the vicinity. There is a huge amount of coverage of what is happening on the streets, particularly in cities. It is a huge assistance to An Garda Síochána when it comes to investigating criminal acts or locating missing persons. I am conscious that there is a balance to be struck but shops and cars have these cameras. We know ourselves that if something happens out on the streets, people on those streets also use cameras. I am aware that it causes some offence if people video things in public, particularly if they share the footage, but their footage can be of use to an investigation. Senator Collins expressed concern that the information or technology should not be misused. She expressed some concern about its use in a live scenario. I intend to introduce legislation to provide for live biometric analysis and identification. When we discuss it – it is not in this Bill today – we might ask whether telling a garda to stand at the top of Grafton Street to keep an eye out for a well-known criminal in order to apprehend him is all that different from there being a camera at the top of Grafton Street with information about the criminal that can identify him if he walks by and then alert the Garda. I realise it is a contentious issue but it is something we cannot ignore. Again, it can create efficiencies in the work of An Garda Síochána. The Senator also referred to a recruitment and retention crisis. Even the Garda Representative Association is not referring to it as a crisis now because there is no retention crisis. The number of resignations from An Garda Síochána is less than 1%, which is bizarre and highly unusual by comparison with the numbers for the PSNI and all the other constabularies in the UK. Fewer than 140 resigned from An Garda Síochána in 2024, so the retention rate is really high. In respect of recruitment, later this year we will have the highest number of sworn members of An Garda Síochána in the history of the force. I believe that, by the end of the year, we will be at or very close to 15,000 sworn members. Of course, that does not take into account the 3,500 staff who do really important work as well and free up gardaí to do their front-line work. I thank Senator Conway for his contribution in respect of the programme for Government and AI. Across the range in government, we will just have to adapt to AI so that we can avail of its benefits while ensuring the threats are not too accentuated. I hear what the Senator said in respect of Clare. I had a pleasant and enjoyable visit there. One thing that was consistently said to me there was that more gardaí are needed there. As the Senator knows, I do not go around directing the Commissioner, but I have certainly passed on the concerns of the elected representatives in Clare. Aside from that, it was an hospitable visit. I thank the Senator and my colleagues for the invitation. --- 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/2026-05-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:00+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-27