Thurles Information

The Irish government is set to approve new legislation which will allow a member of An Garda Síochána (Guardians of the Peace) to request anyone, found wearing a mask or other face covering, to remove same in certain circumstances.

If the request is met by a refusal, the individual would be seen to commit a criminal offence and could be arrested and prosecuted.

In many cases such masks are being worn to prevent personal identification during street protests or where an offence is being carried out, as observed during riots on the streets of Dublin recently

A change in our laws would also allow An Garda Síochána to seize the offending and cowardly masks or other face coverings.

The proposed legislation is being brought to Cabinet for approval today by Minister for Justice Mr Jim O’Callaghan. It was initially designed to tackle far-right protesters, but is now expected to extend further granting Gardaí a more wide-ranging power, based on their judgment of any serious situation as in the case of street crime in our towns and cities.

Garda sources have confirmed that many crimes, including road traffic offences on scooters and motorbikes, as well as assaults and thefts are perpetrated by young offenders wearing face coverings.

If approved by Cabinet, the general scheme of the legislation will be published followed by a pre-legislative scrutiny process. It is envisaged the legislation could be enacted as early as October of this year and will be seen by many as a welcome change to Irish law.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, however, is deeply concerned by any change to the law which criminalises the wearing of face coverings and states that people may want to wear face coverings for medical reasons; religious reasons or to protect their privacy. (Obviously, none of their membership have walked O’Connell Street, Dublin, after 6:00pm on a winters night.)

Minister for Justice Mr Jim O’Callaghan has today addressed the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) Conference in Galway this morning; his first as Minister for Justice. Speaking on the first day of the conference, Minister O’Callaghan acknowledged the challenges facing prison officers and highlighted the steps he and the Government are taking to address them.

Thanking the POA for their collaboration and commitment to high standards, Minister O’Callaghan committed to “taking necessary steps to help [prison officers] succeed in this incredibly rewarding career.”

Meanwhile, POA President Mr Tony Power, in addressing the conference at the Galmont Hotel, urged the Minister to immediately address prison overcrowding.
The POA confirmed that this issue was causing a ‘potentially explosive situation’ as there are 5,344 people in custody, with 358 of those prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors.

Speaking about overcrowding challenges facing the Irish Prison Service; Minister O’Callaghan said: “While the prison estate is currently expanding, I know it is not expanding at the rate that is urgently needed. Since 2022, capacity has been increased by more than 300 new spaces with 139 delivered in the last 12 months alone and more than 90 to be added this year.
Budget 2025 increased funding to €525 million to tackle overcrowding and increase capacity. This year, the Irish Prison Service capital budget is €53 million, also focused on providing additional prison spaces.”

The Minister spoke about important upcoming legislation – the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions Bill) 2025 – which will help to ensure prison officer safety and introduce a range of improvements across prison operations:

Incapacitant Spray Where Prison Officer Safety At Risk.
The Minister stated “I am pleased to tell you that a proposal which I intend to bring forward shortly to Cabinet for approval, as part of the Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, is to amend the law so that prison officers can use incapacitant spray in incidents where their safety is at risk.”

The Minister added: “This Bill includes a range of measures that will bring welcome changes across a range of areas, improving operational capacity in our prisons and bolstering sentencing options to reduce reliance on custodial sentences. This includes a number of proposed amendments to the Community Service Act 1983 to encourage greater use of community service orders for those deemed appropriate.”

The Bill proposes doubling the amount of hours’ service that a judge may order, as well as enabling the Courts to consider community service in lieu of a sentence of up to 24 months, rather than the current 12 months. Where a court elects not to impose a community safety order in eligible cases, it is proposed that it will be obliged to give reasons for this.

Keeping contraband out of prison was also a key focus of the Minister’s address to the POA and its membership, and the Minister spoke about collaborative efforts between the Irish Prison Service and An Garda Síochána.

He continued, “The Irish Prison Service continues to work closely with An Garda Síochána on initiatives including Operation Throwover, which has had a lot of success in its goal to disrupt, interdict and prosecute attempts to introduce contraband into prisons.
Earlier this week, I was pleased to witness the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the Director General of the IPS Caron McCaffrey and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. This MOU will enable both agencies to collaborate more effectively across a range of areas including prison security, intelligence gathering, evidence preservation and data sharing. This collaboration will significantly help to prevent contraband entering prisons.”

“At every turn, the work we are doing is informed, supported and improved by representative groups like the Prison Officers Association and the invaluable perspective of our prison officers.
I will continue to listen and work with you to make our criminal justice system safer, fairer, and more effective in keeping Ireland a safe place”, he concluded

Minister O’Callaghan ended by once again thanking the POA for the critical role they play in the justice system, and committed to continuing to work closely with them to improve Irish prisons for both prisoners and prison officers.