Pringle raises concerns with bill on recording devices for gardaí

Concerns about new legislation dealing with recording devices for An Garda Síochána have been aired by independent Donegal TD, Thomas Pringle.

He claims the bill is “very important, although apparently only half-written”.

Addressing the Dáil on Thursday, Deputy Pringle said as he understand it, this is the first of three bills due to be introduced this year that will address reform in An Garda Síochána.

"There are many issues within An Garda Síochána and there is no doubt that reform is badly needed in the organisation. I find it amazing however, that instead of addressing the many areas of garda reform required, the first thing this Government has decided to prioritise is the introduction of new equipment, such as body-worn cameras, that we’re not actually 100% sure of a total need for, at the financial cost to the State and the cost of our citizens’ rights to privacy and data protection.”

The deputy was speaking on Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022.

He added: “My biggest concern, however, is the fact that the Minister for Justice indicated her intention to bring forward a committee stage amendment to the bill to provide for facial recognition technology.

"It is completely unacceptable to bring forward this legislation today, half-written by the government, with the intention of throwing in such important amendments at the committee stage."

The Killybegs deputy also pointed out that Minister McEntee stated clearly on May 25 last year that it was her ‘intention to provide for the use of facial recognition technology’.

"The bill was published three months later, on August 4. The minister had three months to write facial recognition technology into this legislation, but she didn’t. She decided instead to publish the bill without it and then add this extremely important and controversial provision at the committee stage. Why is that? 

“I can think of no other excuse for this other than the fact that the Government doesn't want this raised during second-stage debates in this chamber. If this is the case, then this is an incredibly sinister and disturbing move and this needs to be addressed urgently because it’s starting to become a trend,” he said.

He claimed they were now seeing a trend of the Government undermining the legislative process, something, he said he had been raising continuously over the last couple of years.

“I know the Government is dead set on introducing this legislation, no matter what the opposition says, but I urge the minister to commit to a pilot project and see how things play out in the field before rolling this out nationally. 

"Such a pilot should include robust mechanisms of operational and scientific review, with clear criteria set out that must be met before the wider roll-out of this technology is initiated.

“I think this is the very least that can be done when introducing invasive and unnecessary cameras nationally,” he said.

The deputy began his remarks by referencing the Data Protection Commission, “who have outlined that An Garda Síochána have an extremely poor record of how it uses its own technology, particularly their use of CCTV".

“This is particularly concerning due to the fact that there is absolutely no evidence as to why these powers are necessary. There is a complete lack of evidence from other jurisdictions to show that body camera contribute positively to policing.”

He added: “This bill is missing many important provisions, including the provision to ensure that a garda operating a recording device is identifiable as a garda and the provision to ensure that all gardaí using the device have sufficient data protection training or are suitably qualified. 

“These are very important provisions that should be included in legislation such as this, that provides for the greater and more invasive monitoring of citizens,” he said.