Ms Anne Marie McMahon:

As already stated, our job is to give effect to the legislation. In that context, yes we can, but we must be conscious of the competing rights we are dealing with here. The challenging area for An Garda Síochána, or any police service, is to try to balance the proportionality and make sure that there are no breaches of the law. If there are, that is where we step in and take appropriate action.