New Garda powers bill could conceal abuses

Gardaí can consistently deny racial profiling because there is no data on who is stopped and searched — but the new powers bill doesn't allow this data to be collected. Why, asks Cian Ó Concubhair

Gardaí already possess exceptional and highly intrusive powers to stop, question and search individuals, and to seize their possessions.

Over the Christmas holiday, the minister for justice quietly released an updated version of the Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026. This bill seeks to recodify a range of existing Garda powers into a single piece of legislation. 

This fulfils a key recommendation from the Commission on the Future of Policing, which felt recodifying Garda powers in a single legal instrument would benefit both gardaí and the public.