Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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10. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his views regarding racial or ethnic profiling within An Garda Síochána; and the action he will take to prohibit this activity. [19292/14]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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19. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if his position and belief has now changed regarding the existence of racial or ethnic profiling within An Garda Síochána as indicated by his comments at the annual conference of Garda superintendents on 9 April 2014; the action he will now take and legislation he will now introduce to address these concerns, to include legislation prohibiting Garda racial profiling as recommended by the UN and the Council of Europe. [19271/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 19 together.

Firstly, let me make my position quite clear. I would find it totally unacceptable if any member of the Garda Síochána were to engage in any discriminatory profiling, whether based on race, ethnic origin or otherwise, and I am quite sure that the Garda Commissioner shares my view in this matter.

In fact, I am assured by the Garda Commissioner that the Garda Síochána does not as an institution engage in discriminatory profiling, and specifically that it does not engage in data gathering or data mining based upon discriminatory profiling in respect of race, colour, language, religion, nationality, national or ethnic origin, ethnicity or membership of the traveller community. I am also advised that, in this regard, the Garda Síochána has adopted the definition of racial profiling used by the European Commission on Racism and Intolerance, namely the "use by the police, with no objective and reasonable justification, of grounds such as race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin, in control, surveillance or investigation activities".I am also informed that the importance of adhering to best practice in this area is reinforced throughout the range of human rights training provided through Garda training programmes. I regard it as of the utmost importance that such training is widely provided to Members of An Garda Síochána.

It is very important that these clear principles are respected at an individual level in day-to-day policing. We all understand that Gardaí are often required to assess situations, draw conclusions and take action under pressure based on the available information. However, it is very important to ensure that no element of stereotyping or prejudice consciously or unconsciously informs their decisions, and that lessons are continuously learned in policing what is now a multi-cultural society.

I should also say that an area where racial identity and the law comes into particular focus is immigration control. I believe however that it is perfectly possible to operate an effective system of immigration control without resorting to discriminatory ethnic profiling but relying instead on good intelligence and the professional judgment and experience of our Gardaí and immigration officers, and indeed this has been demonstrated to be the case.

In this connection, as the Deputy will be aware, the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, was appointed by me to carry out an independent Inquiry, under Section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, into the circumstances surrounding two children from two different Roma families being taken temporarily into care in October 2013. Ms Logan has now submitted her report to me and, subject to certain requisite legal matters being addressed, this report will be published. I am not in a position to comment on this report prior to its publication, but this will provide an opportunity for us to discuss these issues again.