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. Currently, most Garda powers are contained within specific statutory offences. The bill, if enacted, would create general Garda powers of stop, search and seizure. In particular, it attempts to address criticisms of Garda practices of recording use of their stop and search powers.

Source: Irish Examiner February 13, 2026 04:00 UTC