7 December 2021
A new Bill to introduce a general power of arrest and to remove the 24-hour limit to detention for questioning will come before the Oireachtas Justice Committee on Wednesday. The Bill will seek to limit access to lawyers for detainees, as well as codifying powers of stop and search.
Head of Legal and Policy with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) Doireann Ansbro said:
“It’s really important and welcome that An Garda Síochána codify police powers in this way. However, government seems to be using this Bill as an opportunity to expand Garda powers. Some of the provisions contained here would mean policing in Ireland would not conform to human rights law and best practice. If this Bill goes through as is, it’s bad news for all of our rights.”
ICCL made a submission to the Committee outlining our main concerns. Currently, the power to arrest without a warrant is only available for serious offences. This Bill proposes bringing in a general power of arrest without warrant. ICCL opposes this as unnecessary infringement on the right to liberty.
We recommend that the proposal to compel passwords without a warrant be removed. Given the potential to access private and potentially intimate data on people’s devices, as well as An Garda Síochána’s poor track record on data protection, we recommend gardaí should need a separate warrant to search personal devices.
The Bill should also provide for additional safeguards around the use of force, including a higher threshold for use of lethal force.
ICCL welcomes the new requirement that Gardai must record stop and searches. We’ve seen in other jurisdictions how stop and search is used disproportionately against minority groups. There are reports that the same is happening here, in particular against young working class men and members of the Traveller and Roma community. We need to see these proposals extended to ensure that data on the gender, ethnicity or other protected characteristics of the person who is searched is recorded, as well as the geographical location of the search. Search powers should be limited to ensure that grounds for a search are objectively fair and reasonable.
We oppose the creation of a new offence of obstruction of police, as well as expanded powers to demand private information from suspects. This Bill should be about protecting rights, not criminalising behaviour which is not currently considered illegal.
We also recommend additional protections, in line with the European Convention on Human Rights, to protect journalists’ right to freedom of expression and their right to protect their sources.
ENDS/
Find our submission here: http://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploadGas/2021/12/210813-FINAL-ICCL-Submission-Police-Powers-Bill.pdf
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is Ireland’s oldest independent human rights campaigning organisation. We monitor, educate and campaign to secure human rights for everyone in Ireland.
For comment: Doireann Ansbro
For media queries: sinead.nolan@iccl.ie