Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not know how members of An Garda Síochána can keep on top of the amount of laws there at present. Sometimes we see gardaí involved in situations and ask why they are not implementing, say, section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act or as I was saying in respect of Mount Street, the Roads Act 1993. There is such a vast amount of legislation that people in this House, and, indeed, lawyers, find it hard to keep on top of it. It must be an extraordinary burden for members of An Garda Síochána. It might be worthwhile, in terms of the implementation group, were we to make members of the Garda aware of the fundamental powers that they have. They will never be aware of every statutory provision that exists in our law and they will never be aware of every common law power but we do need to provide them with some succinct details of the nature of the powers they have in order that they can respond to the situations they probably encounter more often than others. On certain occasions, they will have to seek expertise on whether an offence is being committed but in terms of large public order issues, they could be given a succinct account of what laws they can use.

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