A leading Irish civil rights group has expressed serious concerns about the manner in which a group of students attending a house party in Cork this week were searched by gardaí in the absence of a warrant.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) also raised concerns about the legality of gardaí confiscating student IDs and passing them on to the authorities at University College Cork (UCC).
The Irish Times understands gardaí visited a rented property in the Bandon Rd area of the city on two occasions last Monday night and Tuesday morning.
A house party had also taken place at the same property the previous evening.
On the first visit last Monday night the tenants were reminded of Covid-19 regulations and a number of guests left.
On the second occasion, several hours later,gardaí entered the house with the permission of the tenants.
According to sources there were indications of drug use and after some people left the house they were searched on the road outside the house under the Misuse of Drugs Act .
No drugs were found.
One of the students at the party told the Irish Examiner gardaí said body searches were being carried out on the basis that a night earlier a person had been found in possession of a small quantity of drugs at the house.
That person was not believed to be at the house on Monday night.
“Everybody thought we had to let them do this,” the student said. “We don’t even know the guy who was there the night before, yet that was the reason given for searching us. We were all searched in the front garden. There were female gardaí there to search the girls.”
When contacted by The Irish Times the ICCL said it "had serious concerns about reports about Garda searches of houses and students, apparently without warrant. We wonder what the legal basis for these searches is," spokesman Liam Herrick said.
“We further have serious concerns about this apparent informal system of gardaí seizing IDs without law or safeguards, and passing these on to UCC. We would ask what is the legal basis for this system? We also wonder whether this informal programme is confined to Cork and UCC, or whether it is happening on a national footing? How many cases have there been?”
He said while the ICCL recognised that the university had “a duty of care to students and liaison with gardaí is important, but we would urge a better approach in consultation with the Students Union”.
Under an agreement in place between the college authorities and the Garda IDs can be taken from students and returned to the college along with the reasons for the confiscation. The student can retrieve their ID following an informal hearing.
A UCC spokesman confirmed that it had authorised gardaí to request student cards from UCC students “in the event they appear to be contravening UCC student rules”.
In a statement, gardaí said Covid-19 legislation had not provided it “with any additional powers to search a person or enter a private dwelling”.
It added that house parties “have been a long standing issue which [GARDAÍ ]
have always policed, in the absence of statutory powers, based on our tradition of policing by consent. Where a specific criminal offence is disclosed the appropriate statutory legislation will be invoked.”
It said gardaí in Cork were working closely with college authorities and had a “long standing local agreement whereby [THEY]have been given permission by the UCC authorities to request UCC student identification cards”.
The statement said: "This is not on a statutory basis. This local agreement has been discussed at the Cork City Joint Policing Committee. This agreement, is subject to ongoing review."
