Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá siad imithe. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall. I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. It is a temporary appointment, for good reason. I wish the Minister, Deputy McEntee, all the best in her future. It is a wonderful and joyous occasion for her and I hope it all goes well.

The general scheme of the Bill contained the objective of providing a legal basis for law enforcement use of body cameras, along with other recording devices such as mobile phones. The proposal would also expand the use of CCTV footage and ANPR technology. Emphasising the role of the technology in enhancing law enforcement practices, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, stated in May that employing controversial facial recognition technology could revolutionise An Garda to manage child exploitation, which is very serious, as well as missing person and murder cases. The technology would also help to exonerate innocent parties by revealing their whereabouts at the time of a crime.

If enacted, the Bill would allow An Garda to input an image of a perpetrator into a system that would provide instant access to images taken in public places of the suspect or those who resemble the suspect.

This process, according to the Department of Justice, would enhance the speed and facility with which gardaí could locate and identify suspects. We would all welcome that. It would be great if it happened. These proposals, however, have been the subject of significant criticism from data protection and human rights perspectives, notwithstanding that they include a number of safeguards. For example, rigorous human rights and data protection impact assessments must be completed before the legislation can be finalised. Also, the Bill would need to comply with the GDPR Act.

While the original general scheme of the Bill did not include face recognition technology – this is very important and I want the Minister to understand it, as I hope he will – it is now almost certain that its use is to be pushed through by the Government on Committee Stage. That is not very good and I am not in favour of it. If I could support the Garda Síochána 1,000%, I would. All my life I have been in community alert. Our community alert group, set up in Newcastle in 1985, was the second in the country. It is still active and engaging. There is a two-way street and the changes proposed need to be reversed.

I recently attended a very pleasant function, the Cahir Garda party for senior citizens. I sometimes have a Minister come to it. It has been running for 24 years and I have been involved in it every year. It took place last Friday evening in Cahir House Hotel. I could not say enough about it. It is the best PR machine the Garda could have. Almost 200 senior citizens sat down for a meal, proudly facilitated by David Walsh of Cahir House Hotel and his staff and the Cahir gardaí. Superintendent Eddie Golden provided the music with a wonderful band. Inspector Mark Allen attended and poured out the tea, coffee and everything else with the community gardaí. It was just spectacular. Transition year students from Coláiste Dún Iascaigh and the McGrath School of Irish Dance provided entertainment. The school is run by my niece, so I declare an interest. Cahir Men's Shed, a group of eight, played for hours. The event started at 4 o'clock in the evening. The real party started at 5 p.m. and went on until maybe 10 p.m. People I have not mentioned also took part. I did not meet our new superintendent. I compliment Superintendent Eddie Golden. He was in Cahir Garda station but has now transferred to Thurles. I also pay tribute to Chief Superintendent Derek Smart, who is now imithe elsewhere. We have lost our chief superintendent in Tipperary.

I compliment the community garda team, including Jenny Gough and Judy Davern. They kindly got a loan of the bus from the Limerick Garda division and connected the people. You would think the old people were loaded into paddy-wagons but they were not paddy-wagons. "Loaded into" is the wrong phrase to use. The old people were encouraged in and helped. They experienced great joy at the party, with the gardaí ag rince leis na daoine go léir in their uniforms. Transition year students and Cahir and Clonmel scout groups were also present. There was a massive meitheal effort to bring joy. There was no party over the two years of Covid, so it was great to be back. The party has been going on for 24 years and it was wonderful. I commend all the sponsors. Members of Cahir choral society came to sing. All sorts of groups were involved. The Garda could not buy that kind of publicity or engagement from all the places in the hinterland, including Ballyporeen, Skeheenarinky, Ard Fhíonáin, An Caisleán Nua, Bansha, Kilmoyler, Poulmucka and New Inn. There were people from all around and they were delighted to be back with a bang. I danced the night out with many like me. As Joe Dolan used to say, "Send them home sweating." By God, did I go home sweating. The sweat was pouring off me because I am not as fit as I thought I was. We had a great night. I compliment all concerned.

I acknowledge all the activities of the community gardaí. The Government does not support the Garda in enough things, and that is why I am saying I have concerns about facial recognition. The gardaí will be able to feed in images. The Government seems determined to push through this. It did not go through prelegislative scrutiny although the other parts of the Bill did. It must go through it, even though I want to give every tool of the trade that I can to the Garda and condemn anyone who attacks, splits, threatens or intimidates members of the Garda, or indeed takes compromising videos. The provision should not be included. We must be very careful about how videos from body cams are stored and ensure they will not be released. Some videos taken on phones, not body cams, have been released. We have seen that. They can do awful damage.

I am a big supporter of An Garda Síochána but there are bad apples in every organisation. We have seen this. I myself was a victim of false allegations and was brought through the courts. It cost me a lot of money given the legal representation. I spent 18 days in the Circuit Court and cleared my good name, but sin scéal eile. There are many areas about which I hope to talk to the Minister.

Lisa Temple, from near Bray in the Minister's constituency, was treated horrifically by An Garda Síochána. A mob – a heavy gang – came along from the Bank of Ireland. They were no better than thugs. They went into the house when the woman's two young daughters were there. What went on was obscene.

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