Minister for Justice Simon Harris has said it is “absolutely ridiculous” that the only people at a public protest who cannot use a camera are members of An Garda Síochána.
On his last day in the role, with Helen McEntee set to return from maternity leave on Thursday, Mr Harris said he was also determined to ensure that legislation to allow the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) by gardaí would be enacted as quickly as possible.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous, and beyond ridiculous, that we live in a country where the only people at a protest without a camera is a member of An Garda Síochána. It’s not acceptable,” he said.
Mr Harris said the situation as it stood was that gardaí investigating cybercrime and online child abuse had to sift manually through online images and videos and were unable to use technology to identify the perpetrators.
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“Imagine that they have to physically sit and watch some of the most horrific images imaginable. Imagine the impact it has on the garda,” he said.
“Imagine how long it takes for the gardaí to manually search to find the perpetrator and stop the abuse. Think of the impact of the lack of that technology to work with Interpol, with (other) European police forces, to fulfil our obligations.”
The Minister was speaking outside Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, along with Minister of State James Browne, after they chaired a meeting of a Prison Education Task Force, designed to reduce recidivism by promoting educational supports and opportunities.
Objections
The introduction of FRT has been stalled by objections raised by the Green Party over the use of FRT. Their concerns surround the extent of the related powers, the need for proper safeguards and concerns about individual liberties and rights.
A spokesman for the Green Party said Mr Harris was conflating two separate issues in the legislation: the use of body cameras by gardaí (which the Green Party supports) and the issue of FRT over which it has concerns.
“The Green Party gave its full backing to the original Department of Justice legislation to allow members of An Garda Síochána access to bodycams.
“However, the party is not supportive of Minister Harris’s proposal to amend the original Bill (permitting the use of bodycams) in order to allow the use of a form of artificial intelligence known as facial recognition technology, which has proved controversial in other countries.
“While we are not ruling out the introduction of a limited form of FRT, we believe that the introduction of any form of artificial intelligence could have such enormous consequences that the Government should proceed with caution,” said the spokesman.
A Government working group is currently working on a paper setting out the principles for the use of artificial intelligence in the public sector.
“We believe these principles could be used to inform a standalone bill on FRT which would then be studied in-depth by an Oireachtas committee,” said the spokesman. “The committee would be able to invite experts in this complex area to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of FRT and its implications for both policing and privacy. Such a move would allow the existing bodycam legislation to proceed as originally intended while avoiding taking a rushed approach towards the extremely sensitive area of FRT.”
For his part, Mr Harris said a compromise paper had been produced and good progress had been made within Government. He said he was satisfied a “landing zone” would be found which would be acceptable to all.
However, he stressed the urgency of the situation as he saw it. “It’s time to make the decision. The Garda Síochána can’t wait any longer.
“That decision has to come to the Cabinet table and it’s a matter for the leaders to decide. But I see absolutely no reason why this can’t be decided. I think if there was a failure to act on this, within weeks I think that would raise very serious questions about how we are protecting the gardaí and how we tackle a serious problem.”
Mr Harris said he accepted there were broader questions about the use of new technologies and artificial intelligence and he agreed that such decisions should not be rushed. He also signalled that live use of FRT was an area that merited close consideration.
Limited circumstances
However, he added that supplying FRT technology to gardaí in “a very limited set of circumstances” was the right thing to do. He said the force need technology to assist members in investigating images they already had in their possession.
“They have them. They are not new. Having the technology enables the gardaí to to break up online child abuse and the criminal gangs involved,” he said.
In relation to gardaí being allowed to wear cameras in certain circumstances, Mr Harris said it was all very well arguing about the matter in the abstract but most people did not have to put on a uniform each day.
“Gardaí put themselves in harm’s way,” he said. “A total of 89 men and women have been killed in the line of duty. There are attacks on gardaí almost every single day. And as Minister for Justice I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I didn’t articulate these concerns.”
