Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister for the clarity which was exactly what I was looking for. We are clear now that this is a draft code of practice which is important. The Minister has set out his role as distinct from that of the Commissioner in preparing the draft. Ultimately, the Minister takes the hit and signs off on it, which is reassuring. It is important that it will come to both Houses for approval.
I note what the Minister said about section 10, the new section 47A. I decided to take it early because I saw there was an opportunity to take it early and get it out of the way. It is good to have clarity at the early stage of our debate today because the code of practice was a particular issue which took up a lot of time in the pre-legislative scrutiny. I was not a member of the previous committee. I know that Senators Ruane and McDowell were and they put a lot of work into the pre-legislative scrutiny. Not everything that they recommended was ultimately incorporated into this legislation. It is important to have clarity on the code of practice procedures, the role and function in relation to the draft of the Garda Commissioner along with his expert staff and advisers, and ultimately the Minister’s role in signing off and accepting if that is an adequate draft of the code as the envisaged in the Bill. I thank him for that clarity on all of those matters.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10