All gardaí would be equipped with facial recognition technology, sex offenders would face electronic tagging and a second Garda college would be opened under policing and justice campaign promises to be unveiled by Fine Gael on Friday.
The party will make a strong pitch for the law-and-order vote with a range of proposals to be included in its manifesto, which will be published in full on Sunday.
Fine Gael will promise to equip all gardaí with bodycams and facial recognition technology (FRT) and expand its use — after the Green Party faced down efforts by Simon Harris and Helen McEntee to employ the technology.
Some of the measures may spark a backlash from civil liberties or data privacy campaigners, with the party set to promise the use of live FRT in cases of terrorism, national security and missing persons, with safeguards.
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Alongside electronic tagging for sex offenders, which the party believes will reduce reoffending, Fine Gael will also undertake to double the Garda training allowance. It will also introduce a new allowance to incentivise gardaí to stay in the force longer as part of a push to increase force numbers with another 6,000 recruits — 1,000 more than is being promised by Coalition partners Fianna Fáil.
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Micheál Martin’s party has already made its play for justice reform — after its backbenchers targeted Ms McEntee serially during the lifespan of the Government, especially on transport policing issues in the capital.
Fianna Fáil wants to introduce so-called “nightingale courts”, ad hoc courtrooms which can be set up at short notice in buildings like hotels or sports clubhouses in response to situations like the Dublin riots.
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A senior party source said they believe the proposal has strong support among the Garda ranks, with frustration within Fianna Fáil over the lack of convictions arising from the riots last November which is in stark contrast to the UK where people were sentenced within days of recent disturbances over the summer.
Fine Gael, for its part, will also promise new powers for the Garda when it comes to digital devices, legislating to give the force authority to request passwords for electronic devices when serving a search warrant.
It will promise specialised judges for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence trials and revise the law on disclosure of counselling notes to ensure complainants can access therapy without fearing their private records will be used against them.
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It will reiterate promises to embark on the largest prison-building programme in the history of the State, delivering 1,500 new prison spaces in the existing prisons network and a new one at Thornton Hall.
It comes after Mr Harris rebuffed a suggestion from Tánaiste Micheál Martin that Fine Gael should de-escalate campaign trail attacks on Fianna Fáil. Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Thursday, the Fine Gael leader responded to remarks made by Mr Martin about his surprise that Mr Harris’s party were “strategically” targeting Fianna Fáil more than Sinn Féin.
“I think after he said that, he then went on the attack,” said Mr Harris of his Fianna Fáil counterpart. “Giving out about being attacked whilst then attacking is an interesting way of doing things.”
He said that during an election it was important to debate ideas without being personal and that there were policy differences between his party and Fianna Fáil. “The fact we’re debating them is good,” he added.
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