Dáil debates

Thursday, 10 February 2005

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Second Stage.

 

2:00 pm

Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)

I have seen people getting off aeroplanes from outside the country and showing an identity card. They are not Irish. I have seen Irish people in the same queue having to show a passport. People will do it as a matter of convenience but it should not be a right. No Irish citizen should be asked for or have to show a passport within Ireland. The simplest thing to do would be to show a passport as it saves everybody a great deal of trouble but it should not become the right of anybody to ask a citizen to show his or her passport. One is not required to show one's passport anywhere within the country. Once the garda at passport control is satisfied that a person is an Irish citizen, he or she should not seek from him or her, as a right, his or her passport.

I hope the Bill has the success for which the Minister hopes. I would like to see a strong and vibrant Garda Síochána where morale is high and it is confident enough to take constructive criticism and knows its friends who are not necessarily those who smile at the force and tell it what it wants to hear. I want to see a force that is effective in policing and has the career structure and level of morale that members will want if they are to be fulfilled in their work.

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