asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to remarks made by a district justice (name supplied) relative to the arrest of a person who refused to give his name to the Garda; and if he will make a general statement on the right of a citizen to refuse to give his name to a garda on request.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Garda Request for Citizen's Name.
34.
I assume that the question is based on a newspaper report of the case in question.
Apart from the charges mentioned in that report, the man concerned was charged with being guilty, while drunk, of disorderly behaviour and with another related offence of which he was, in fact, found guilty.
The Garda Síochána do not, of course, claim any right to require a person to go home, nor do they claim any general power to require a person to give his name but it is a common practice for members, if they see a person under the influence of drink in public, to advise him to go home and to put him in charge of a relative or friend where possible. Sometimes, when such a person adopts a hostile attitude and becomes disorderly, they arrest him for his own protection rather than for any other reason.
In this particular case, the district justice took a different view of the facts from that taken by the garda who actually saw the man's condition.
As regards the general question of a person's right to refuse to give his name to a garda, the position is that various statutes give the police power, in specified circumstances, to require a person to give his name. In other cases, a refusal by a person to identify himself to a garda could create or confirm a suspicion that would legally justify the garda in arresting him. Consequently, while a person may sometimes be within his rights in refusing, the position in general is that a person who refuses does so at his own risk and may find himself under arrest if he persists.