Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin To add to my earlier points and Senator McDowell's, I think the Minister mentioned that not all stop-and-searches result in arrest. At the point at which you can collect the data, that is the problem: they are being used when nothing has happened. The point is that even if you are not arrested, stop-and-searches are recorded on the PULSE system. You can be stopped and searched 20 times in a year, never have been found in possession of a drug or an article or stolen goods, never have committed a crime, never have done anything, and it is recorded on the PULSE system. It is basically surveillance at that stage because no bar was even met to stop and search the person. That is what happens when certain communities are over-policed. The same people are profiled. As for the idea that the system is set up to assist gardaí to police, who they police is what we are asking. As for the idea that it would encourage racism, maybe the real fear is that it will expose racism within the practices, not encourage racism in terms of how people view those groups. Senator Joe Conway mentioned religion and ethnicity. There are two separate sets of amendments that capture a few different things, but I did not pick up on the idea of the PPS the first time until Senator McDowell said it. Are we saying that we would ask somebody during a stop-and-search for their PPS and then a determination would be made later? Are we going to say, "We need your PPS", and then that will open us up to all this other data? What if people say they do not know their PPS number or ask a garda to come to their house with them so they can get it? How does the PPS number relate to actual stop-and-search activities? I remember a story from when I was younger. When I start to tell these stories, I sometimes realise how different my experiences are from other people's. The PPS scenario reminded me of an absolutely bonkers policing practice in our community when we were kids. People will remember the culture of bringing your radio or CD player out to a field to sit and listen. Police used to stop and search us and tell us they were taking our radio. When someone would say that it was their radio that their mam had bought for them for Christmas or their birthday, the garda would ask to be shown their receipt. Standing in the middle of an estate with their radio, 12-year-olds were being asked for their receipts. Were they expected to take out their wallets and find the receipt for a present their ma had bought them? That is the madness of policing practices in some of our communities. You would say that you could go and ask your ma. Most mas probably did not keep receipts for everything. You could have a radio, Walkman or scooter for years but a garda could just decide to take it off you. They would tell you that if you did not have a receipt to show them, they would take it. That is the level of craziness with which people were stopped and searched throughout their lives growing up. That was the nineties and the early 2000s. It was not that long ago really. People had that experience. If we are now saying that PPS numbers are going to be included, it reminds me of that mad scenario where people were asked for receipts and had their goods taken from them. We have to remember the way in which gardaí have used stop-and-search powers. There is sometimes a fear of insulting gardaí, as if they are a protected species. That is not helpful in challenging and changing cultures. It is okay to call out bad practice. It benefits us all. Addressing bad practice benefits society and the police themselves. I will not go on too much longer but, before I leave today, I really need to understand a bit more the conversation in respect of the census and the PPS and how it relates to stop and search because it sounds a little bit like being told to go home to ask your ma whether she has the receipt for the radio she bought you a few years ago to stop a garda taking it off you. It sounds as bonkers as that scenario. --- 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