Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

We will call a division on this motion and vote against it. It has been renewed every year since 1998. Recently, there is a new part of the equation because with the onset of the Covid crisis, we had the introduction of the most draconian powers seen in the history of the State. Those powers are still in place and the Minister is proposing to introduce this legislation alongside them. Not only is she doing that, but she is also proposing to bring it in at the same time as the new draconian police powers contained in the proposed Garda Síochána (powers) Bill, including sweeping changes to people's rights regarding search and arrest, access to private communications as part of a search by gardaí with non-disclosure of a phone's password leading to five years of imprisonment or a fine of potentially €30,000, an attack on the right to silence, and so on. It is proposed to renew these powers alongside that. These powers are an attack on the right to a fair trial, the right to a trial by jury and the right to a presumption of innocence. It is not just me and the radical left who say so. The United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International and the ICCL say so too. We will vote against this motion.

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