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

I need to pick up on the end point there. First of all, the idea was spouted earlier that the census would help us capture data. This was responded to in terms of our amendments, but what will be shared has nothing to do with our amendments. It was said that some work was ongoing with the census, but all that is shared with the census is exactly what the Minister of State has read, and it does not actually solve anything in relation to ethnicity or any of those things because they are not part of the information that is suggested to be shared with the CSO.
There is another point I just cannot let the debate finish on. I do not know if the Minister of State is hearing it or if other people can hear it. It was said earlier - and I am paraphrasing - that if we collect this data it could be seen as supporting racism; rather than hiding it, exposing it. It was said earlier. We support it by not acknowledging it because the people who already feel racially profiled feel racially profiled. We are looking to expose where that racial profiling is potentially happening. To say that this is supporting racism means that we are allowing this idea that legitimate racism is okay or institutional racism is okay, but God forbid it might stir up some commentators. What we are actually saying there is that we stand over and will hide systemic oppression and racism, but if we name it, God forbid then it would be in public and other people may be enticed to speak about racism or to target a particular group. We are supporting institutional racism by saying that statement.
It was further backed up in the last couple of sentences in the Minister of State's contribution when she said that in collecting this data people may feel profiled. If we expose that a certain ethnicity or a certain type of person is profiled, they may feel profiled. They already feel profiled by the fact that they are being profiled. It is putting something out into the general world and society where everybody else now understands it when people say "I feel like I am stopped and search more than other people", "Do you think I was stopped and searched there because I am black?" or "Do you think I was stopped and searched there because I am wearing a tracksuit or a North Face jacket?" They carry that all day long. They already feel profiled because they are being profiled. To say that and to actually bring that out in the open that those people may feel profiled, make that make sense. Again, that is like the racism - we might support racism instead of actually exposing it - it is saying that we are okay to keep it hidden, that we are okay to not name it, and people can just go around feeling profiled, but God forbid that you may actually give them real recognition for why they feel like that.
The Department, or wherever that narrative is coming from, really needs to look at the philosophical underpinning of what that says: the semantics, the language, and the meaning in making those sentences. People may feel profiled if we finally acknowledge that they are profiled. We would rather they go around questioning in a hyper-vigilant way all day if they are being profiled or not. That argument is so problematic and it definitely should not go out there as something that is creating some sort of fear around us acknowledging the reality of people's experiences and lives, or stop and search, or police practices.

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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