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MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Helen McEntee has received Cabinet approval to publish the draft legislation for garda use of facial recognition technology (FRT).
The legislation will allow An Garda Síochána to use biometric identification to retrospectively search CCTV in some circumstances.
While the draft legislation has been approved, it will now need to go through pre-legislative scrutiny before being finalised, which means it could be next year at the earliest before it comes into effect.
Following the Dublin riots on 23 November, McEntee secured Cabinet approval for the offences of riot and violent disorder to be included in the proposed scope of the FRT.
However, it’s understood it will not be in effect for it to be used in the investigation into the riot.
Garda sources The Journal spoke to said that FRT would be a game changer for their investigations and quicken the pace of hugely complex investigations.
In addition to asking the Oireachtas Justice Committee to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny, McEntee will now ask the Committee the consider an additional list of serious offences for possible inclusion in the schedule of offences in the bill.
The introduction of FRT is part of a broader plan by McEntee to equip gardaí with state of the art digital technology in the fight against crime and criminality.
The Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act 2023 was signed into law on 5 December.
The Act will allow An Garda Síochána to roll out bodycams from next spring, starting in Dublin city centre.
The draft FRT Bill will amend the Act in order to give effect to the Government decision to provide that biometric identification may be used by gardaí.
Under the Data Protection Act 2018, it isn’t possible for An Garda Síochána to process biometric data without a clear statutory basis.
The power to use FRT needs to be explicitly provided for and is set out in this General Scheme.
At present, gardaí must trawl through hundreds of hours of footage in murder investigations to track the movements of suspects and their accomplices.
To gather the footage, gardaí compile a list of CCTV camera locations across the streets and roadways they believe are connected to a crime they are investigating. They then harvest that footage to examine it.
The garda investigators – often members of the force moved from other duties – sit in a CCTV room watching through the footage and identifying when and where they see the potential suspects. The process can often takes months, depending on the crime.
At the conclusion of that process, gardaí will also issue stills from the footage to other gardaí to give so-called “nominations” or identities of criminals that they recognise.
Such identifications in the past have, at best, successfully secured prosecutions or, at least, formed part of the evidence.
Sources have said that the FRT will allow that the harvesting of the footage will still be carried out but the task of watching the videos will be taken over to a greater degree by the system’s Artificial Intelligence capabilities.
The footage will still need to be examined after the identification but the scope of that examination will be shortened. There will also be a need for gardaí to individually identify suspects before inputting the footage.
It is understood gardaí will still have to give evidence in court to prove that there was control over the system and how they also identified the suspect.
When it comes to incidents in large crowds, the software can be used to identify suspects and consistently track them as they move through crowded locations.
“There has been an explosion in the use of digital data in criminal investigations, and that without adequate data analysis tools, the length of criminal investigations will increase,” McEntee said.
The Government has sought to reassure those opposed to the moves that there will be substantial safeguards in place to prevent abuse. The use of the technology will be monitored by a High Court judge and gardaí will only be able to use it retrospectively.
This is a similar measure which governs the use of surveillance equipment as a senior member of the judiciary also carries out an audit function in regard to that equipment.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said previously it is “strongly opposed” to the technology being used by law enforcement, and said that An Garda Síochána has a “poor record on data protection”.
The ICCL previously called for a ban on the police use of facial-recognition technology, arguing that it poses an “extreme risk to rights.”
The Department of Justice said the draft Bill will provide for retrospective searching of images which are legally in the possession of An Garda Síochána, through the safe and ethical use of biometric identification in the following circumstances only:
The Government decision today has expanded this to include riot and public disorder.
The Department said such use can only be in the context of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of one or more of the criminal offences listed in the Schedule or for the protection of the security of the State.
With reporting by Niall O’Connor
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First step on a slippery slope, like all special circumstances or emergency legislation, open to overreach, open to abuse, open to future ministerial regulation at the stroke of a pen to expand the limited circumstances to include more and more circumstances.
The suggestion of which are now dismissed as crazy conspiracy theory but once this pandora’s box is open, the evolving technology will prove to be too tempting for whomever is in the postion of power, until you potentially reach a future with realtime facial recognition using AI technology watching everyone all the time.
@Dvsespaña: it doesn’t seem to bother people when they fly to Spain for their holidays. If most people object we should see alot of Irish people doing staycation next year.
@Dvsespaña: The big corporations will inevitably have control of the data
@Dvsespaña: 1st step? 1st step was Covid & all the BS pointless restrictions/lockdowns…they were very close to having mandatory vaccinations lest we forget! Now this & then they will rush through more legislation re. climate change, God knows what that will bring…so where well beyond the 1st step of our civil rights being eroded!
@damien leen: sorry, forgot the hate speech bill, good look exercising your right to protest when that gets pushed through but don’t worry, it’s all for our own protection. Now get out there, bust your ass working, keep voting & keep your mouth shut.
@damien leen: hate speech being a subject the minister has no definition off
@damien leen: Go back to bed. It’s dark and cold outside.
@Dvsespaña: Clearly a shinner…..
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: hoping to graduate from young fg are you?
@Dvsespaña: The passport office uses AI for renewing documents. I’d better not renew my passport so, seeing as how the pandora’s box is open now.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: go get your pom poms ya government cheerleader…
@jiminybillybob: they wouldn’t have him…maybe in an office gopher capacity
@James `CLIFFORD: Who cares. I have no problem. Then again, I am not a criminal and have nothing to be fearful of. So what, if I’m recognised walking down O’Connell St. What’s the problem?
When are people ever going to wake up! The politicians and government are elected by the people to serve us, not us serve them. What is wrong with everyone? Have you all gone too soft? The right people need to stand up and be counted, this invasion of privacy has to stop folks
My human rights are for privacy and peace not judgment by recognition!!! Welcome to WW3
@James `CLIFFORD: wow.
@Mary Looners: unfortunately he’s not alone.
Well it now looks like we’ll all be wearing masks or headwear permanently.
@Mic JHintl: A mask wont save you. They’re going to use all biometric identifiers such as height, weight even your gait. AI can determine your height from a rubbish bin or a bench thats in the same footage. This, along with the clothes worn can be used by the AI to go forward or back in time to catch a person before a mask or item of clothing was put on. Most cctv isnt good enough for FRT, but it will be upgraded no doubt.
@Dave Callaghan: Ahh, ”facial” recognition.
If you don’t behave like a tool then you have nothing to worry about
@Harry Cock: its called civil rights! Maybe it will take another 800 years for people to get the act together. If anyone cared for the country and population they serve they wouldn’t be in receipt of an annual salary that is received nor the fitted suits and if you haven’t noticed the hair stylist that attends to eamon ryan. Relax and pay the temporary USC tax which was extended on account of the people standing together and saying no to water charges. Just pay attention to the patterns
@James `CLIFFORD: I should be allowed to drive while drunk, because ya know, my civil rights!
@Harry Cock: I wouldn’t recommend that, have a bit of consideration for other people. Have a bit of control there Harry, more than you in the world
@James `CLIFFORD: but I can drive better after a few pints, people would be safer, surely that’s to everyone’s advantage?
@Harry Cock: what are you blithering on about…
@James `CLIFFORD: Civil Rights?? Which of your civil rights are being interfered with or down graded?
@damien leen: Harry Cock’s one of these right-wing authoritarians that believe these laws wont apply or affect them, just other people.
Just as they believe current laws don’t really apply to them.
“The sheep spend the whole of their lives in fear of the wolf only to be led to the slaughterhouse house by the shepherd”.
WAKE UP SHEEP OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES ARE BEING ERODED.
@Vincent Hickey: And please give me 2 or 3 examples of civil libirties which are being eroded by this (or any other) legislation.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: You honestly can’t be this thick!
@damien leen: I must be. I’m asking!! So, please tell me!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: And I’m still waiting!
@Vincent Hickey: We are still waiting on your answer as to how our civil liberties are being eroded. Two or three examples will do . No response, nullifies your arguement.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Well, there are our libel/slander laws for one.
Any infringement of privacy is an infringement on civil liberties.
Don’t you think the way the government has lied to us about such things is worrying?
Don’t you remember the ‘mandatory but not compulsory’?
And the state/govenrment claiming that that ID card did not have biometric data, when it was shown it did.
And the state continuing to compel people to have to apply for/use that card even after the courts found against it.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: But this has nothing to do with libel, slander or ID cards. My image was broadcast on television 3 times. I was recognised by others each time. I am still reminded about one of them. Was that a breach of my privacy? Were my civil liberties infringed?? If I then tell you that 2 of those were at rugby matches and the third was in the background of a televised vox pop. My face was publically broadcast and I was recognised. Or, to maintain privacy and protect civil liberties, to you want to pixelate all people out of backgrounds. Phil Lynott’s video for ‘My Home Town’ (?) would never have been made.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: The point remains.
Our libel laws are such that they have a chilling effect on our ability to hold the powerful to account, or even question their deeds.
That suppresses what should be a given right.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: That may be so, but it hasn’t got anything to do with facial recognition technology.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: you might wanna check your t&cs for entry to those games then. YOU consented to your image being broadcast on tv, you just didn’t know you did. That’s why on tv peoples faces get blurred out, because they don’t sign consent forms or agree to partake.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: It has everything to do with civil and human rights, of which this is a part.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: You have no idea about the libel laws of you think they have chilling effect on politician’s. They are simple to talk around! A lot of them are so vague that they can be abused and are by people wanting people not to tell the nasty truth about those people.
Libel is not a right, if anything it could be seen as an attack on the right of free speech!
I don’t think she knows what day of the week it is. The most incompetent justice minister the state has ever had, and that’s saying something!!
This tech was in the news recently as being flawed for misidentifiying a large percentage of black people, so is this simply not being mentioned anymore?
@Osprey: Old news. Rectified.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: How do you know it’s rectified?
That’s like saying a plane will not crash again.
We wont know until its crashes again.
This can pass every stage of the Dail every day of the week – however if its not passed and approved by the Data Protection Comissioner (re GDPR), its going NOWHERE. Would have made a lot more sense getting DPC approval first, but this one thinks shes on a home run here and going to get loads of Kudos from the Guards, when in fact the 1st time its used, some smart ass lawyer will have it thrown out on GDPR grounds. Well done Helen.
@Steve Davis: I’m sure the Data Protection Commissioner has to follow the law of the land. The law that is enacted by the Dail.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: data protection laws are set an EU level
@Martin Mongan: Which are tested in Irish courts, no?
So, as with any law passed in the Dail, the Data Protection Commissioner cannot simply refuse to implement them.
They are the law of the land until proven otherwise in the courts.
Did Helen never hear of a scarf
But the S/bags wear face masks while real people don’t.
It’s already in use in the passport office, lads. Quick, let’s organise a demonstration and boycott passport renewal!
Good Move. It will allow the tracing if movements more efficiently after a serious crime, and the easier identification of looters and rioters.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: and the stabbing of an innocent child, and you’re worried about some looting..
@Shane O Mac: Sorry. Point taken. Though he is in custody so identification is not a priority.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: you really are a servile clown aren’t you. Have you ever had an independent thought?!
@damien leen: By disagreeing with you it means our thoughts are independent of each other. But they are similar (but not the same!) as the thoughts if others. The same with you. Your thoughts are different than mine but similar to others. But because of the ‘differences’, which are patently obvious, I won’t question your ability to have independent thoughts.
@damien leen: Did you ever think of leading with a counter argument to the point you disagree with rather than just leading with an insult framed as a question, constantly? You are a grand man to call people names while offering nothing of substance to your own positions.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: been sarcastic over a stabbing, showing your true colors.
Absolutely pointless considering nobody gets any jail time anyone. You’d think the priority would be actually putting criminals in jail instead of fluff legislation that’ll probably be thrown out anyway
@Martin Mongan: Agreed, first step is more prisons. However, we talk about extra Gardai walking the beat. This frees up said resources to do just that. Let’s face it, money isn’t going to be spent to hire a load more. People first of all have a right to feel safe walking around and at work. In Dublin, this is sadly not the case. Something has to be done. Would FRT help? Definitely somewhat. Gurriers deserve no civil liberties.
@ecrowley ecrowley: kinda missing my point, we could have a 20 garda with on every street in the country, won’t make a slightest bit of difference when the offenders are back out. Sure I could cost someone sight in one eye the worst I’ll get is a couple of years and I’ll be out in half that time. Toothless sentencing laws couple with mitigating circumstances means all the tech, Garda and judges in the country won’t change a thing
There’s a big risk of bias with such technology. One should reflect why it was not allowed until now, and would it be even discussed if not for recent facts? Also reading about using this to prevent crime is a bit scary, how exactly?
The key point of discussion should be how to deal with policing of such situation better rather than leave folks do whatever and watch them later on a video. Also I lived in the inner city so to speak.. one has to address the social issues of folks leaving there starting from when they are kids left to do no good on the streets all day, no policing will ever prevent this, we are just bound to see more of it.
Awesome, FG are awesome
Sleepy Joe in trouble bigly lol
Ahh, so the spineless Greens capitulated again. Nothing like the the taste of power to convert the Greens from environmental and civil liberties champions into anti-Neutrality pro-Blueshirt control freaks. Fine Gael on electric bikes!
“We’re only going to use this with regards to criminals, well possibly the gypsies too. Oh and maybe political troublemakers. Oh and ya them feckin Jews. but the rest of ye can lay safe in bed at night with nothing to worry about, well unless that crowd that hates foreigners and gays get into power, then they might have to worry alright” Dept of Justice
@Paul Hayes: Even in jest, making up a quote and attributing it to a government department is WRONG and possibly dangerous.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: ooohhhh dangerous…quick, call the hate speech police!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: No.
Paul is making a pertinent and very valuable point.
It must have hit home, judging by the way you are trying to shut it down.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Pertinent and Valuable it may be, but in quotes? Attributed to a Government Department?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Oh dear.
Are you really trying to pretend you didn’t understand the nature and context of this comment?
Come now. You are only damaging your own credibility by making such a claim.
Where as you could identify a potential gurrier before, how will it be possible to identify and prosecute someone wearing a balaclava and dark sunglasses. You won’t have a positive I’d, just a possibility it might be the right person.
@Dave Barrett: Lord, that’s a silly comment.
They will be banning the Hijabs so !!
Helen is playing an absolute blinder, best minister ever
Sigh, why do people this this is some golden bullet. It’s not, I would thing this fails more than it works. You need perfect straight on shot of uncovered face.
@James King: Body recognition analytics is the main part of it.
Wrong move .. that technology has lots of caveats… Google it
Now I’m now legal Eagle but I read a few days ago eu bringing in legislation that doesn’t allow the use of facial rec under certain circumstances and riots aren’t one of them it must be judicialy approved and murder rape and major drug crime terror attacks are the only circumstances so how is this going to work they ignored eu legislation on phones and now looks like some murderers may be released
@John Reynolds: And the model proposed here must be judicially approved! Not just the local Sargent or Super, but a judge must sanction it.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: So?
Do you really expect a judge to not approve its use?
@John Reynolds: EU make the regulations Irish Government write the law, big difference!
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Is there anybody you do trust? The judges ,the Garda, the government, the civil service and big business.
This technology works perfectly well in other countries. The limitations are known and taken into account and the information is used accordingly and with great success.
What is bad about that. Nothing. As regards being recorded, your are recorded all over the place, so get used to it!
The same people complaining about u vetted males and dangerous individuals will be complaining about this. It is a good thing to protect t all sides in incidents. Stop being hypocrites.
People are mentioning that they can hide their face with a mask or scarf. Not so. AI driven FR systems can measure all aspects of your movement and match it with any previously recorded CCTV image of you. So unless criminals plan to wear masks 24/7 and manage to delete all past recordings of themselves, they will be rumbled.
It is assistive technology to the Garda, using it helps keep us all a little bit safer. One by identifying people who break the law and two by making people think twice about breaking the law in the first place.
Our civil rights are still intact, our GDPR rules are the toughest in Europe so there is no chance of it being abused.
How is facial recognition going to identify people wearing balaclava’s?
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