Eamon Ryan refuses to stand down in row over facial recognition technology for gardaí

Eamon Ryan: "There's huge potential advantages, but there's also huge potential disadvantages if you get it wrong." File picture: Careth Chaney

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has refused to back down in a Government row over the introduction of facial recognition technology for the gardaí.

Mr Ryan has warned that public trust in the force risks being eroded if legislation to pave the way for the use of the technology is rushed through.

"For a country like Ireland which is a very advanced digital country, so much of our jobs, income and skills are in the area of the digital economy. We have to be good at the principles-based deployment of technology like this. There's huge potential advantages, but there's also huge potential disadvantages if you get it wrong," he told the Irish Examiner.

It comes after Justice Minister Simon Harris said he does not want to see “any delay” to plans to introduce controversial facial recognition technology by the gardaí.

Mr Harris, who has the backing of Tánaiste Micheál Martin and others in Government, is pushing to introduce the technology as part of legislation that would allow for the use of body-worn cameras.

However, the Green Party has expressed concerns about the use of facial recognition and says it is “far too complex" to be dealt with by way of an amendment to the existing Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill which is currently going through the Dáil.

The Greens want any roll-out of the technology to be done through a standalone law, which would take significantly longer than the amendment being pushed by Mr Harris. Mr Ryan, said he has met with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris on the matter in recent weeks and understands the need for technology in both catching criminals and preventing crime.

However, he said he reminded the commissioner that the gardaí were founded on the principle of operating on the trust of the people and not by policing by force of arms, which he said has "served this country well for 100 years".

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He said trust is also needed when it comes to the use of artificial intelligence, facial recognition technology and machine-based learning.

"If we just rushed in and said, 'trust us, we're just going to use this for good cause', which I'm sure they would, but if we didn't have all the safeguards and checks and protections for civil liberties and for privacy that are also appropriate, if we didn't get that right I think we would lose the trust of the people. And then I think it would be very hard to be restored."

Last week, Mr Harris doubled down on the need to introduce the technology without delay. "I'm really clear that the Garda Commissioner believes he needs these tools. And as a justice minister, I'm going to do everything I can to provide them,” he said.

Pointing to the area of child sex abuse, Mr Harris said: "Gardaí are having to manually trawl through thousands of images of the most horrific crimes possible against children, where time is often of the essence, and we know there is a technology that can firstly prevent a guard from the human trauma of having to sit through that, and secondly, perhaps find the perpetrator much more quickly and protect a child and protect many children. That is one example."