Justice Minister Helen McEntee to face down Greens over facial recognition technology as she returns from maternity leave

It comes after Green Minister Ossian Smyth said Minister Simon Harris, who stood in for Minister McEntee while she was on leave, said he was “under pressure” to roll out FRT during the six months.

Minister McEntee now must resolve a row within Coalition over the facial technology and its use in body cams, which are set to be rolled out for gardaí.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan rejected proposals from Minister Harris on FRT, and Minister Harris has now put forward a compromise paper.

The Greens yesterday dug their heels in and a spokesperson said they wanted separate legislation for it.

“I do look forward to engaging very closely with my colleagues across Government, including the Green Party but the fact of the matter is that it’s been over a year since we received a letter from the Garda Commissioner outlining why they need it, why the gardaí need to use it,” Minister McEntee told Independent.ie.

“This is not for racial profiling, this is not about mass surveillance, we’re not even talking about live facial recognition technology - this is for the most serious of crimes, murders, child sexual abuse, it’s for abduction.

“And it’s about equipping the gardaí, supporting them, if they’re spending 700 hours going through footage, how can we make that much quicker?

“I really want to see this passed for all of those reasons.”

Minister Smyth told RTÉ radio this morning that there has not been a “clear” definition of how FRT would be used and that there were “different proposals” on the technology.

“It is a late-stage thing,” he said.

He said Simon Harris “wanted to clear his desk” and get the proposal through before he finished up.

“I think he was under pressure for time because he was coming to the end of his period as Minister for Justice.”

Minister McEntee returned to work today after her second maternity leave after giving birth to her son Vincent.

She was the first Cabinet minister to take leave when she had her first baby, Michael, in 2021.

“[Vincent is] great, he’s five and a half months now, and didn’t even know I left the house. My other little fella, maybe a little bit more upset to see Mammy go but all went well this morning,” Ms McEntee said.

Speaking at the Department of Justice this afternoon, she thanked Simon Harris, who now continues in his main portfolio as Minister for Further Education, as well as junior minister in the Department of Justice James Browne for their work.

“I’m back, I have a full agenda,” she said.

She said she also wants to focus on getting Garda numbers up, roll out new a policing model across the country and new safety partnerships.

Ms McEntee said domestic and sexual violence is still a “huge, huge priority” and that she will be meeting with stakeholders in the sector in the coming weeks.

Minister McEntee’s comments come as the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) have said there needs to be “significant” additional resourcing for the ombudsman if body cams and FRT is brought in by the Government.

Speaking at an Oireachtas committee, Commissioner Hugh Hume said the equipment may be “useful” but warned that it has to be “treated with respect” as it can be “abused”.

“No technology is infallible and the technology can be used for both good and bad,” he said.

“From a GSOC point of view, any introduction of technology for us must have robust policies, robust procedures, for the protection of data and the protection of images to ensure that it’s not shared disproportionately.”

He said if complaints to GSOC are accompanied by body cam footage, this will also have to be reviewed and stored by the Ombudsman.

“And, of course, it’ll mean that we invest significant resourcing additional demand for GSOC because as opposed to the 3,000 allegations we receive yearly now, each one of those could potentially have a body-worn image attached to it that we would have to receive, manage, store, keep safe, review.

“And that could be a huge additional resource intensive, both technical and human, for us going forward.”

He said that whatever is brought in by politicians needs to be accompanied by “proper, robust procedures” that can be checked for misconduct.

“Any technology can be abused and it’s really important that it’s treated with respect,” Mr Hume said.