Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland But can I? I wore this for two years and took part in protests. If a garda decides that I am wearing a face mask in a manner that is likely to intimidate another person, I can be required to remove it. That is not a power that previously existed. What if a person who is medically compromised wears his or her mask while on a protest? People who were medically compromised participated in the protests and protested about their rights and concerns in respect of Covid and took suitable care. What if somebody, as part of his or her religious belief, wears a mask? --- 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/2026-07-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-02