Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Catherine Ardagh (FF), Dublin South-Central

Amendment No. 16 is a technical amendment to section 10 to delete “in or” and substitute “in, on or” for precision in page 10, line 21.
Amendment No. 17 is an amendment to section 10 to delete lines 23 and 24 and align the language with other provisions of the Bill.
On amendment No. 18 in the name of Senator McDowell, this is not considered necessary as section 10 is not intended to establish a separate regime based on whether a vehicle is attended or unattended but instead operates where a member has reasonable grounds to suspect the commission of a Schedule 1 offence and permits the stopping of a vehicle and the search of that vehicle and any persons in or accompanying it. In practice, where a vehicle is stationary and no person appears to be in charge of it, the relevant search power will depend on the circumstances and on the nature of the suspected offence. Such situations are dealt with under existing offence-based search powers, for example under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 where drug-related suspicion arises or under other applicable enactments depending on the circumstances and not by reference to a separate category of abandoned vehicle. Therefore I cannot accept the amendment.

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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