The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Digital Rights Ireland have published a joint briefing raising concerns about the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025, arguing that the proposed legislation introduces AI-powered biometric surveillance powers without clearly incorporating safeguards from the EU AI Act.
The briefing, shared with senators ahead of the bill’s Seanad debate on June 10, focuses on what the organizations describe as a key definitional problem. The bill introduces a new term, “biometric analysis,” that the ICCL says overlaps with biometric categorisation and biometric identification systems as defined under the EU AI Act, but without aligning to the Act’s established terminology or safeguards.
The powers created under the bill would allow An Garda Síochána to categorize people based on biometric data and track both identified and unidentified individuals across CCTV footage. The ICCL argues that the bill defines “biometric identification” more narrowly than EU law and guidance, and that by departing from established EU definitions, it risks creating legal uncertainty and weakening protections for fundamental rights.
A central concern is that the EU AI Act places strict limits on police use of biometric technologies, including facial recognition, but Ireland is not automatically bound by some of the Act’s policing provisions. The ICCL says this gap makes it more important, not less, for Irish legislation to explicitly incorporate equivalent safeguards.
The bill, which received cabinet approval to proceed through the legislative process, would formally authorize Garda use of biometric recognition tools in criminal investigations, national security matters, and missing persons cases. It would allow investigators to run retrospective biometric analysis on images and video that police already hold, including CCTV, mobile phone footage, and evidence submitted by the public.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission separately raised concerns earlier this year, describing the proposed legislation as “a radical upturn in the policing powers” of the state and calling for clear safeguards to be codified directly in the law rather than left to a future Code of Practice.
Under the bill, a High Court judge would monitor use of biometric analysis powers and issue annual reports. A Code of Practice governing deployment would be drafted by An Garda Síochána in consultation with stakeholders.
Sources: ICCL
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
