Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is long overdue. For far too long, An Garda Síochána has been hampered in its ability to tackle crime. Obviously, and I will come back to this, there is a need for every additional power the Minister gives to An Garda Síochána to be linked to oversight and an understanding of why it is being done and whether it is justifiable.

If the Minister reads the submission by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, it quite rightly states that in other jurisdictions, some of what is being proposed here has not worked and that some what has been proposed, in fact, ends up doing the exact opposite and drives some of those who are involved in crime to be more secretive and not be in public. This means An Garda Síochána would then have to become more skilled in covert actions and longer-term surveillance. There are, therefore, concerns. There is a concern, obviously, about mass surveillance, which other Deputies have talked about.

One issue that struck me is something I have raised with different people and which I thought might filter into this legislation but does not, is that Garda cars have no dashcams. It struck home for me when two female gardaí in Cherry Orchard were rammed. The only reason we all knew what happened is that the idiots who did it were filming themselves or their friends were filming. That is a situation where, rightly, a Garda car should have a camera front and back. The Luas has a camera front and back, which the Garda can access if there is a crime in the vicinity. Buses have it, as does virtually every single new car a person buys. We hear an appeal every single day asking whether anybody has dashcam footage. There is no point in appealing to An Garda Síochána; it does not have it because the cars are not fitted with it. That is illogical. If it is not already allowed, then it should be. It should be included in this legislation in order that we can discuss it at the same time. Perhaps it was that the cars were parked in that bundle of cars that came in during Covid-19 that did not have that technology. As far as I know, however, it is not routinely installed.

That brings me to the second point. I spoke to a local superintendent the other day and his concern was not about the recordings. He said it was about the volume of material that will be recorded. Where will it be stored? Who can access it? For how long will it be recorded? Then, there is that extra duty it places on top of existing members of the Garda who are trying to carry out their jobs. Obviously, this means there may be a bigger civilian cohort attached to An Garda Síochána. It needs to be addressed, however. That means an extra cost in terms of the Garda Vote.

With regard to CCTV footage, people in my constituency have for years called out for more Garda cameras. There are local authority cameras in virtually every single Dublin City Council housing complex. There are cameras in certain areas of Cherry Orchard. Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard have 12 or maybe 13 very high tower cameras, some of which were purposely knocked down by trucks. They were obviously having an effect, or were likely to have an effect, if the criminal gangs went after them.

I do not have a concern about CCTV footage per se. It is a mass surveillance device but we might consider that nearly every single household that buys a doorbell now buys a Wi-Fi bell that records footage. We do not know who controls those images. It is right that An Garda Síochána and local authorities work better together, which they have done quite well in my area. It is about the storage of this data, however. For how long will this be stored so that it is not never-ending? Who will oversee it and ensure there are no data breaches? It is a huge outlay. I am totally opposed to facial recognition technology because it has not been discussed by Members. Amending legislation would probably be better in this regard than would a committee amendment. The balance obviously has to be correct.

One other piece within this briefing we received from the Oireachtas Library and Research Service mentioned that there should be CCTV footage within Garda stations. That is logical. At the end of the day, it is not just to protect members of An Garda Síochána; it is also meant to protect the public in this day and age.

Again, this is to do with people knowing there is a camera, whether it is a big sign or in blue lights or whatever. This applies also to the body cameras. It is a different regime when one starts talking about covert and overt. That needs to be teased out in a lot more detail on Committee Stage.

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