Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendments to sections 17 and 18 deal with focused monitoring and have been grouped together. These are designed to replace the requirement for an authorisation from a garda ranked not below superintendent with an authorisation instead being required from a District Court judge. The proposed changes make it inoperable, essentially, as the provisions will cease to make sense. For example, the Bill with the proposed amendments would effectively be stating that the relevant judge of the District Court is independent of the investigation by virtue of section 17(2)(b). Focused monitoring, and ANPR in particular, beyond three months is subject to judicial authorisation and, therefore, accepting these amendments would mean that our Bill states that judicial authorisation is required at the very beginning of the overall investigation while retaining the requirement for the same judicial authorisation for beyond three months. It just makes the process unworkable, particularly in the day-to-day context. As the Bill stands, if gardaí are going beyond the three months for any grant of an authorisation, a judge of the District Court must be satisfied that it is justified, having regard to the information on the oath.

Section 17 provides An Garda Síochána with a power to utilise the ANPR for focused monitoring for specific and limited purposes. We are talking mainly in respect of arrestable offences, matters relating to national security or offences that have a penalty of five years or more. For example, this could be to monitor the movements of a particular vehicle that might be associated with a burglary gang. Section 18 allows a superintendent or a higher ranked officer to apply to a judge for continued focused monitoring, as I have mentioned, for beyond the three months. As I mentioned previously, each year a High Court judge will have to report to the Taoiseach on the operation of this Part and this includes the use of focused monitoring.

There are numerous safeguards in this section. An officer may only approve the monitoring of the movements of a particular vehicle where: he or she believes, on reasonable grounds, that the vehicle in question is connected to an investigation relating to an arrestable offence or matters relating to the security of the State; he or she is independent of the investigation of the offence or the matters relating to the security of the State; and he or she is satisfied that the focused monitoring is necessary and proportionate with regard to the purpose of the investigation. These are strong safeguards to have in place and any judicial authorisation beyond this is not automatic, with An Garda Síochána required to outline a summary of results. This is both necessary and proportionate.