Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendmentNo. 15:

In page 18, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following:

"6.—(1) The Offences Against the State Act 1939 is amended by the deletion of section 29 of that Act.".

This relates to the Minister's statement on Committee Stage that we were dealing with the power to issue warrants and that he was taking on board what Mr. Justice Frederick Morris said as an outcome of the inquiry into Garda misbehaviour and worse in Donegal. I understood that Mr. Justice Morris's recommendation was that gardaí should not have the power to issue warrants. When he spoke about issuing warrants the Minister mentioned this section, which I seek to delete. The amendment is that section 29 of the Offences Against the State Act is amended by the deletion of section 29 which allows the Garda to issue its own search warrants. Given the concerns of Mr. Justice Morris and the fact that the Minister agreed in other circumstances that gardaí should not have the power to issue search warrants, it is reasonable that we take this opportunity to amend the Offences Against the State Act to give effect to that.

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