Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026 [Seanad]: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

The irony is not lost on solicitors and the public that this was the first piece of legislation to come before the Dáil in the new term. This Bill places on statutory footing the existing right of people in custody to consult a solicitor before and during interview and provides for electronic recording of interviews by gardaí where, previously, everything that was said in a Garda interview had to be handwritten. The Minister now faces, because of this strike, solicitors not attending at Garda stations any more. There needs to be urgent engagement with solicitors' representatives. I have seen for myself how the system is not working at the moment.
We all agree there was a necessity to codify for stop-and-search, arrests, searches, seizures and detention. We know there were these 12 pieces of legislation, and from time to time we could probably make arguments in regard to how they were used. Should providing gardaí with the powers they need have happened in a shorter time? Yes. Do we also need to make sure we have enough powers in regard to oversight and accountability? We will all see with "RTÉ Investigates" later whether there are major failings in relation to whistleblowers and I call on the Minister to deal with this issue. We would be very worried in relation to any loss of journalistic privilege and the protection of sources.
It goes without saying that the Garda needs the powers to be able to operate, with the vast amounts of criminality we have talked about, whether that is organised crime, disorganised crime or the grooming of children. We know that we need a huge amount of work to be done in relation to youth diversion alongside community policing.
The other thing I will bring up - it is not the first time I have brought it up - is that the Garda sometimes becomes the body that has to deal with mental health issues, particularly outside of office hours. There is a need for guidelines and protocols, and to look properly at the Mental Health Act. At times, gardaí are arresting people to protect these people from themselves and in many cases, GPs, as they read the Mental Health Act, do not believe these people need taking in. I have dealt with multiple issues in the past while, some of which took weeks to deal with, and I think there is an anomaly that should be dealt with by the Minister, and a number of other Ministers, particularly the Minister with powers in relation to mental health, around correcting this.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16