Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17
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Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

If the Minister could say, with his hand on his heart, that the PULSE record would not say it was on Grafton Street of wherever that I was searched, I would take what he is saying and think it was a very conservative position but maybe there was some sense in what he is saying. I believe that any record made by any member of An Garda Síochána of a stop and search will mention the place where it happened. The Minister may have forgotten the particular debate on Committee Stage that gave rise to the amendment was that some of the other Members of the House wanted there to be some data as to whether or not people were brought to custody suites for personal searches or not. The Minister will recall that Senator Ruane expressed a desire there should be some record of the number of times that people are brought to a custody suite under the powers in the Bill as opposed to cursory searches on the street.
She was concerned that those personal searches were a major intrusion, especially when carried out in a custody suite, on the liberty and freedom of movement of people who are searched. Effectively, they are detained and brought to a Garda station and subject to a search. I am not simply dealing with what she was concerned with, which was internal or cavity searches, but general searches involving strip searches, for instance, which are entirely justified in many circumstances and entirely necessary in limited circumstances.
If the Minister would tell me that the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána regards it as unduly onerous to say where a search took place, that is fine, but it is simply obstructive because that material will be on PULSE. If I am stopped on Grafton Street, the PULSE record will say that is what happened and that I was not somewhere else, for example, on O'Connell Street. I believe the record will state that and, therefore, I cannot see that there is any additional imposition on An Garda Síochána in simply recording where searches took place, rather than just simply the fact that a search took place. In the end, people will look back on this debate and this amendment and they will say there is no need whatsoever to record the place where a search took place. There is none because the Seanad decided that it was not part of a proper record. Therefore, I do not accept the Minister's rejection of the amendment.

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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