asked the Minister for Justice why a person (name supplied) was refused permission to travel in a Garda patrol car as an observer.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Garda Patrol Car Observer.
3.
It would be contrary to long-established policy, subscribed to by successive Commissioners and by successive Ministers for Justice, including myself, that unofficial observers who are not present in the course of official duty, and who incidentally are not bound by the Official Secrets Act, should be allowed to travel with the crews of garda patrol cars.
To allow such an arrangement, however worthy the motives of the observer and however responsible he might be, would involve an unacceptable intrusion on the rights of those citizens with whom the gardaí in the patrol car have occasion to deal, rights which include the right to be afforded such privacy in their dealings with the Garda as the circumstances permit.
My information is to the effect that the Garda were willing to accept this person because of his international reputation but their decision was overruled by the Minister's Department. Is that information correct?
The Deputy would not be correct in that statement. The Deputy may not be aware that a Garda officer took the person in question on a tour of the city in his own car and showed him exactly what would happen in a patrol car.