Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 10, subsection (1), line 18, after "section" to insert the following:

", in cases of urgency where the provisions of section 7(2) apply".

I will be brief because we have dealt with the substance of this amendment while discussing Senator Regan's amendment. This is a corollary and may be more attractive to the Minister of State because it allows for the current system to operate. Superior officers may approve tracking devices under section 8 but the amendment simply inserts a proviso that they may only do so in cases of urgency and in which the provisions of section 7(2) apply. I am trying to ensure the general rule would be observed and that generally the Garda would require judicial authorisation before any tracking or other surveillance device could be planted. Sections 4 and 5 provide for the default application procedures and sections 7 and 8 would only come into operation in cases of urgency. Therefore, the power of a superior officer to approve tracking and surveillance devices would be limited to urgent situations. I do not propose to limit the time although the Irish Human Rights Commission suggested that could be another way of limiting the effect of section 8. It recommended a reduction in the maximum duration for which the use of a tracking device could be authorised. However, I am simply saying that as a safeguard superior officers should only be able to grant approval where circumstances of urgency apply. This seems to me a reasonable amendment which allows for non-judicial approval but limits the cases in which non-judicial approval may be sought. I do not see why there is a need for such a broad bypass as currently provided for in section 8.