The amendment provides that where a member of An Garda suspects, with reasonable cause, that a person is acting in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable apprehension for public safety or the maintenance of public peace, and that the person is wearing a face covering with the intention of intimidating another person or in a manner likely to intimidate another person, the garda may direct that person to desist from that conduct, remove the face covering and leave the vicinity. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, was very clear on Committee Stage in the Dáil that the purpose here is to set out in primary legislation, namely, the Defence Act, the circumstances under which An Garda Síochána or the Minister can request the assistance of the Defence Forces and-or the Minister for Defence in aid of the civil power in respect of work that is done by gardaí.
Key terms by TF-IDF across 14,932 words from 18 speakers. The summary quotes the highest-scoring sentences verbatim — nothing is paraphrased.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Maria McCormack and Chris Andrews; Níl, Senators Cathal Byrne and Paul Daly.
| Question | Result | Tá–Níl |
|---|---|---|
| Amendment put: | Lost | 12–26 |
| Question put: | Carried | 27–10 |
Party shown is the one each member held on 2026-07-02, frozen by a dated join — not their party today. The Oireachtas API publishes no date of birth and returns an empty gender field for every member in this period, so no age or gender breakdown is shown.