Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland I wish to speak to my amendment No. 26 a on the first additional list of amendments, which has been circulated. The purpose of this provision is to insert a new subsection (3) into section 13 to enable the Minister by regulations to provide for any record, which is required by section 13(1), to include such particulars as the Minister may prescribe in such regulation of the race, ethnicity, nationality or other social characteristic of the person searched or of the driver of the vehicle searched. This proposal is simply to enable the Minister to add to the requirements under section 13(1), which are mandatory recordable matters, a variety of other particulars that I believe are necessary. To answer the point raised by Senator Ruane, section 13(2)(b) requires the time and date of the search to be recorded. It occurred to me when listening to Senator Ruane's argument about people being brought to custody suites for the purpose of searches, that if the time, place and date of searches were required to be recorded, that would meet that point. Recording whether it was a street search or a Garda station search would meet that point. Although I have not put down an amendment to section 13(2)(b), it occurs to me that Senator Ruane's worry about people being the subject of intimate searches and the places where searches take place would be covered if the record that is made includes not merely the time and date of the search but where the search actually took place. I ask the Minister to look at that point because it seems to me that it would be a simple point to deal with between now and Report Stage. Moving on to amendment No. 26 a , which is a substitute additional amendment in my name, I do not know how practical this will be in every particular circumstance. However, it provides that: The Minister may [require] by regulation ... [that the records] required by subsection (1) ... [would] include such particulars as ... [the Minister might choose to prescribe] by such regulation ... [relating to] race, ethnicity, nationality, or other social characteristic of the person searched or of the driver of the vehicle searched. The reason for this is that it is known that racial profiling does take place by members of police forces right across Europe. My research led me to believe that a person in the United Kingdom was eight times more likely to be stopped and searched under the UK's police and criminal evidence and stop and search procedures if the person's skin was darker than olive or if they were black. They were eight times more likely to be searched. There may be some good reasons sometimes for racial profiling. There may be some good reasons in certain circumstances where particular issues are arising of a policing kind. It may be that those kind of figures are not just the fruit of prejudice. I accept that. I am not going to say that statistics of that kind are conclusive that there is institutional racism or prejudice in the policing process. Sometimes it may be that some racial minorities are engaging socially in activities which are a cause of worry. They are carrying knives or fighting in the streets or something like that. Alternatively, some social groups may be more likely to engage in certain forms of activity than others. That may be the case. Not much is proved by saying the number of stop and searches in Temple Bar is radically different from that on the main street in Rathgar. It does not prove that policing is necessarily irrational, prejudiced or whatever. It may be explained by other circumstances. I am saying that because I do not want to sound like I am on a moral high horse and say that all policing is inevitably going to have the same consequences for every group in society no matter how it is deployed. I am making that concession at the beginning to underline my conviction that there is a very serious danger that racial minorities will be subject to inordinate and unjustified deployment of police powers. There is a danger that will happen. They always say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. The best way for us to counter prejudice and unconscious prejudice in the deployment of police powers is, in my view, to collect figures and statistics about it so that the Garda Commissioner can press a button, if this is all done on PULSE, and see that non-nationals are 12 times more likely to be searched than Irish nationals or that members of the Travelling community are eight times more likely to be searched. At least those figures and statistics would be known so that corrective policing policy can be deployed to make it clear to members of the categories of citizen that is referred to here, and even non-citizen, that policing is not just directed at them, if there is any sense that if they look sideways at a garda they will be searched while white people seem to walk past without ever being bothered at all, or that if a group of young people are stopped the black kid gets searched and the white kids do not. People must have some degree of confidence that the figures are there to show society at large, the Minister in particular, Members of this Parliament, and the public generally, how these powers are actually being deployed in practical circumstances on a day-to-day basis. That is why I mentioned "the place". Senator Ruane talked about her experience in Tallaght. If stop and search is far more frequent in Tallaght than it is in Rathgar, we should know that. That is why the term "place" is important to stick in as one of the matters to be recorded. It also covers the question of search in a custody suite as opposed to search in public, so we know how many people were brought to custody suites to be searched rather than simply searched in public. It is in that spirit that this amendment is proposed. I am not trying to make the work of gardaí more difficult. Under this amendment, the Minister is giving a wide latitude as to how, if it at all, the Minister prescribes recording of these particulars. It may be, for instance, that it is impractical to work out whether Italians or French people are or are not to be noted down separately. The UK authorities can do this and in Northern Ireland, religion comes into it as well. I do not think religion is all that important here. I cannot imagine Protestants being picked on more than Catholics or vice versa . If that was the case, maybe Muslim minorities might consider that they were being unfairly picked on. In Northern Ireland and Great Britain, these figures are collected and are available. It acts as a regime which runs counter to unconscious or conscious prejudice as to how police powers are deployed in respect of people from different backgrounds and people who belong to social minorities. It is in that spirit that I intend to move amendment No. 26 a . --- 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