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

Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

I move amendment No. 4:
In page 12, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:
"Report on the operation of search and seizures
14. (1) It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to furnish to the Minister at least once in every calendar year a report containing the following data in anonymised format:
(a) the total number of searches made under section 9;
(b) the total number of searches made under section 10;
(c) the total number of searches made under sections 9 and 10 where such searches did not result in the seizure of a relevant article of evidence relating to the commission of an offence;
(d) such other information as the Minister may prescribe by regulation in relation to the age, gender, race, nationality and social status (including membership of the traveller community) of persons searched or of the drivers of vehicles searched.
(2) The Minister shall as soon as practicable lay the report furnished to him under this section before each House of the Oireachtas.”.
This amendment arises out of the extensive debate we have had on this matter. I do not propose to repeat it or to extend today's proceedings to go back over all of the reasons that were advanced by Members of the House in relation to this matter. The amendment is designed to enable the publication of statistics about stop and search by the Minister so as to assure the public that these kind of stop-and-search powers are being properly and impartially administered.

---

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