Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel

I move amendment No. 8:
In page 8, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:
“(ab) contravenes section 43C(1);”.
This amendment would make it an offence without lawful authority or reasonable excuse to knowingly contravene section 43C(1) which states, "A member of Garda personnel shall not carry out biometric analysis other than in accordance with this Part and any applicable code of practice." The Bill already criminalises falsifying, concealing or destroying information obtained by biometric analysis. It does not, however, state that a contravention of the Bill is an offence. The reason this is important is we do not want to see any potential for scope to creep in here. We do not want to see a situation where new technologies, which are emerging all the time, are adopted in a way that is inconsistent with the narrow uses proposed in this Bill. Specifically, this Bill allows for a relatively narrow use of biometric technology in policing by comparing biometric data, for example, faces, across pieces of evidence like photographs or footage that the Garda has already gathered in the course of an investigation. The Minister has made clear that he sees a wider future for biometric technology in policing. Facial recognition technology that compares against a wide database of biometric data is something we in the Labour Party will not accept. This amendment aims to make absolutely clear on the face of this Bill that checking a person's image against a broad database of images is prohibited under this legislation.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10