Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17
============================================================

Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

I said at the beginning that I know what the amendment is trying to achieve. If somebody does a runner, he or she is already caught by section 15 because he or she has failed to comply with section 11(2)(c) and is liable to be arrested if he or she does a runner. The particular need for section 11(4) is not apparent to me. If someone is required under section 11(2)(c) to "be in or on or accompany the vehicle, as may be appropriate, for so long as necessary to complete the search" and if he or she fails to do that, he or she already committed an offence under section 15. Section 11(4) adds nothing to that.
It is a significant enough point that if a member of An Garda Síochána decides to search a vehicle under sections 9 or 10, he or she can also, for instance, under section 11(2)(b), "where the place at which the member finds the vehicle is, in the member's reasonable opinion, unsuitable for such search, take the vehicle or cause it to be taken or require the driver forthwith to take the vehicle to a specific place which the member considers suitable for such search". The person could be asked to bring it to the yard at the back of a Garda station under that power. He or she is effectively under arrest if he or she is required to bring his or her car to some place that a member of An Garda Síochána tells him or her to bring it and he or she is obliged to do that forthwith.
I do not see how section 11(4) adds anything to the scope of section 15, which is the failure to comply with the requirement that is made of anybody. I do not see how the special provisions in section 11(4) are required. If someone has done a runner having been stopped, by doing that he or she has failed to comply with the garda's direction under section 11. He or she has committed an offence because he or she will have failed to be in or on or accompany the vehicle, as may be appropriate, for as long as is necessary to complete the search.

---

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/2026-06-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-17