Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

I am going to speak briefly on that point.
Currently, all stops and searches are recorded on the PULSE system. Am I to understand that Senator Byrne is suggesting that people who are stopped and searched do not get added to the PULSE system, because that would be a case of telling them to go on their way, where they do not show up at several different points if they are overpoliced, where it is not just a one-off? Obviously, it matters if it is happening to people more than once. In all the times I was stopped and searched, I would happily say I was female and Catholic and so on, but the stop and search is more invasive in front of one's community. If it is too much to ask for extra data and we are just telling people to go on their way and make it easier, why are they going on to the PULSE system at all? Is there a suggestion that we should not be recording name, date of birth or whatever, so stop and searches just become completely invisible unless people have been arrested or found to be committing a crime?

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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