The Minister for Justice has suggested that gardaí should be able to photograph public order offence suspects as a matter of course in the future.
Michael McDowell told the Dáil committee on justice yesterday that such a facility could be used to prevent suspects providing incorrect information about their names and addresses.
It would not need legislation, but would require the introduction of equipment that would allow gardaí to send images back via a digital radio system.
Gardaí are currently testing a digital radio system, although it is unclear whether it could be used to transmit images.
He also believed that all squad cars should have a mobile computer fitted as standard, which could be used to send images and to receive information.
Mr McDowell told TDs he envisaged "the day, now that we are in the era that most of us carry a camera in our phone, that gardaí on duty dealing with a disorder situation, where they ask someone for their name and address, would also take a photograph of them so they know who they were dealing with afterwards, and that somehow this would be digitally sendable back to some record somewhere so that it is kept.
"I don't see that this is a huge civil liberties issue," he said. "It does seem to me that we will soon get to the point that every squad car has a mobile computer attached to it and will be in a position to communicate back."
Mr McDowell also said he would like to see closed circuit television monitoring installed throughout every Garda station, which would be in addition to recording interviews.
The Garda is planning to introduce a new €6 million computer and camera system for Garda traffic corps vehicles which will be able to read car registrations and which will be linked to the Garda pulse system.
It means any vehicles which are not taxed or insured or which have been reported stolen will trigger a warning notice on an in-car computer screen.
Mr McDowell also defended his decision to include so many amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill, which was being debated by the committee yesterday.
He was criticised by opposition justice spokesmen Jim O'Keeffe (Fine Gael) and Brendan Howlin (Labour) for deciding to introduce so many changes in one Bill, rather than introducing a series of separate Bills.
The TDs were discussing changes to firearms legislation in the Act, which will make the modification of firearms a criminal offence, introduce mandatory sentences for some firearms and allow for a gun amnesty.
Mr Howlin and Mr O'Keeffe both said a separate piece of firearms legislation would have been more appropriate.
Mr McDowell said he would have "gone down that road" but did not have sufficient time to see it enacted before the end of this Dáil term. "The Gardaí would have said to me, 'We can't wait'."