Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I second the proposal to amend the Order of Business. What Senator Mullen proposes to do in the House next week is far more important than what has been going on in the two committee meetings that have been taking place yesterday and today.

I call for a debate with the Minister for Justice on the use of body cameras and facial recognition technology. The Government's handling of this will be extremely costly and will result in serious issues relating to data protection and the protection of civil liberties. The press release issued by the Department of Justice states the Garda Commissioner will begin tendering for the purchase of body cameras. This is putting the cart before the horse. We will spend a sizeable amount of money on technology that we may not be able to use for a very long period of time.By the time gardaí will be able to use the bodycams, the technology could be outdated. If we purchase bodycams now, we might later find out they are incompatible with our legislation.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, facial recognition technology is accurate only 70% of the time and is often worse at identifying women and members of minority groups. In the US, the American Civil Liberties Union is taking cases for people who are wrongly identified. You cannot call yourself anti-racist, progressive and liberal while at the same time enacting legislation that is anything but.

I have talked to people in the Data Protection Commission who are very concerned about the compliance perspective. The press release states that the Garda will make use only of images it is entitled to use, but the AI is trained on multiple samples. If this collects data that the Minister says will not be used, what is to stop someone else from using those data accidentally or for a more nefarious end in the future? Whenever it is pointed out to the Minister for Justice that something could be open to abuse, she has a stock response along the lines that this is not about racial profiling or mass surveillance but about helping gardaí to do their jobs. That statement appeared in the Irish Independent. If the wording of her upcoming Bill does not do what she says it is intended to do, she will need to change it. I do not think the Minister understands the consequences of the legislation she is trying to pass. At the very least, the upcoming Bill should be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny.

Is this good public procurement practice? What evidence gathered by this technology puts people at risk of unlawful arrest? Gardaí risk gathering inadmissible evidence. We also risk having the data being used for unlawful purposes. May we please have a debate on this in the hope of preventing further embarrassing legislation being brought to this House?