Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin I was not here at the beginning of the conversation. I apologise for anything that is repeated. Whatever about the other removals, in relation to section 3, in terms of further cementing what is already a bad law in relation to section 3 stop and search powers, in Ireland, the section 3 stop and search power within the drugs Act is used and abused to profile, harass and have a very low bar for policing. It is not necessary to have any sort of suspicion or evidence that somebody is in possession of a substance. In fact, it has been used, as admitted by An Garda Síochána in numerous committees, to find other crimes that are unrelated to drugs possession. They are effectively using the idea that a person may be in possession of drugs for personal use to stop and search people in the hope they find other crimes. For me, this is a really low expectation in terms of policing in Ireland and especially in relation to the fact that we know policing decisions impact certain communities more than others. I grew up being stopped and searched and it created a very negative precedent for the relationship between young people in our communities and An Garda Síochána. Stop and search is used extensively. Each year, on average there are over 3,000 people before the District Court in relation to section 3 possession. That is a lot of people being stopped for possession, and they are the ones who have been prosecuted. If they are found to be in possession and receive a conviction, when it comes to Garda vetting and how that is logged, it is in the same category as rape and murder when a person's Garda vetting comes back. Imagine for a moment in the 1980s or 1990s, or whatever decade, when you were younger. If you or your friends or people you know were in possession of drugs even all the way back then, the section 3 conviction for possession is still on their record. It could have been £20 worth of what would have been cannabis at the time, before weed was really a thing in Ireland, in terms of possession. When they go for jobs, promotions, travel or anything else, that comes back under the section 3 category. Section 3 is so dangerous in relation to people's lives and how they can progress. It stays on their record. Having a stop and search power such as that has such a negative impact and consequence on people's lives. To remove section 3 as it relates to stop and search does not remove stop and search powers in the drugs Act. The rest of the drugs Act can remain intact. It is only in relation to possession for personal use, and it is not even the stop and search power; it is the possession piece that is named. On section 15 and section 23, section 15 makes it an offence in relation to supply, in relation to trafficking and in relation to those bigger offences that the police say is what they are more focused on, so why are they not using section 15? The bar is higher when we take section 15 and section 23 in relation to stop and search. In the evidence that came before the drugs committee over the last while we had several contributions from people from the police forces of the UK, Canada and Portugal and they all said the same, especially the one from Porto. The commander in Porto basically said that he has a much higher level of trust in the ability of his police force to use their skills and training to detect supply and trafficking, which would be the equivalent of what we would use section 15 and section 23 for. Members of that police force are not using and abusing people who are struggling with addiction in the hope that they might find another crime. When we think of section 3 we need to be very clear that we are not removing stop and search powers in relation to the supply, trafficking and intent around larger crimes. It is actually just that basic. Comparing our section 3 to the drugs Act in the UK, theirs is a bit more onerous but ours is actually a bit more harmful in terms of how it is laid out. While this may be more related to the drugs Act, I am apprehensive and conscious about bringing in further Bills around stop and search and not for us to have an honest discussion on section 3 and to solidify such stop and search powers in relation to possession. I do not think they do anything for any sort of trust-building or harmonious relationships between communities and the Garda. If anything, it de-skills the Garda skill set in relation to actually looking at that larger crime of supply in relation to communities and the sale and supply of drugs. While I am under no illusion that the Minister will accept the amendment today, I do hope at least it will increase the understanding and awareness that section 3 is a needless mechanism to actually police. It does not water down stop and search powers, it just makes them more robust and makes it mean that the Garda at least have to have a reasonable level of evidence to stop and search someone for sale and supply instead of having such a low bar to use such damaging stop and search powers. --- 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/2026-06-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-10