Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 14, to delete lines 9 to 41, and in page 15, to delete lines 1 to 12.

This amendment calls for the deletion of provisions relating to focused monitoring by a member of Garda personnel relating to arrestable offences and matters relating to the security of the State. I am seeking the deletion of the whole section.

This is warranted because, as I read the section, it lays out that An Garda Síochána can make use of this section off its own bat and that this monitoring can continue on. While the section does provide that it must be signed off by an officer at the rank of superintendent or above, I do not believe this allows for sufficient checks and balances or enough oversight of what is happening. For that reason, this is a very worrying situation. A situation could arise where An Garda Síochána continues to sign off on monitoring and it goes on forever without ever being scrutinised. In theory, that could happen and, if it can happen in theory, it is likely actually to happen. Even if a member of An Garda Síochána was particular enough to say that should not happen, from my reading of the section, one of these orders could be in place before lapsing for a day and another being signed off on and put in place without any scrutiny at all. There could be monitoring of a vehicle suspected of having been involved in a crime for an entire year, bar four days. That is very dangerous and very wrong. It is something we should remove from the Bill.

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