Thousands of unlawful Garda surveillance files compiled on children, including infants

An Garda Síochána created thousands of unlawful intelligence dossiers on children under the age of 12 – some for infants as young as 42 days old – between 1999 and 2023.

This was disclosed in a Garda Inspectorate report released this week, a decade after concerns were first raised in the Dáil and media in 2014 about Traveller children—some as young as 16 days old—being added to the PULSE system.

In a startling admission of institutional failure, the Garda Inspectorate report revealed that, between 1st January 2015 and 31st March 2023, Gardaí had:

(a) Created:
○ 587 intelligence records of children under the age of 3
○ 517 intelligence records of children between the age of 4 and 7
○ 110 intelligence records of children aged between 8 and 11

(b) Recorded a 314-day-old infant as “involved in crime” in an intelligence file;

(c) “Inappropriately” recorded a mother and a one-year-old child sitting in a car “waiting for their laundry” in another intelligence file; and

(d) “Inappropriately” recorded a mother, father and a two-year-old child “who were seen walking” in another intelligence file.

The Garda Inspectorate also found that between 1999 and 2015, a total of 7,408 intelligence records were created for children under 12. Of these, 3,668 were in violation of data protection laws. Among the remaining 3,740 records, 60% contained incorrect birth dates, with some pertaining to individuals over 12, and in many cases, to adults.

Although thousands of these unlawful records have been deleted, the Garda Inspectorate instructed An Garda Síochána on Tuesday to conduct an audit of all intelligence records created for children under the age of 12 since 2015.

As part of the audit, An Garda Síochána has been directed to identify any intelligence records created in violation of the guidelines that gardaí are required to follow, and to delete all records that are not linked to serious offences or lack other compelling reasons for retention.

Speaking today, Olga Cronin, Surveillance and Human Rights Senior Policy Officer, Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), said:

“The findings of the Garda Inspectorate report are deeply troubling. It’s still very unclear why some children in Irish society, including infants, have been recorded on a police system. Who are these children? They, and their parents, have a right to know. Ultimately, this is yet another unfortunate example of An Garda Síochána demonstrating a poor grasp of data protection legislation and does not augur well for Garda use of powerful technologies such as facial recognition technology.

“What’s particularly astonishing is that, ten years after red flags were first raised about this, the Garda Inspectorate has called on An Garda Síochána to audit all its intelligence records for children under 12 created since 2015. This suggests that the full scale of this issue is still unknown.

“In less than two weeks, the Inspectorate’s function and powers will be moved to a new body, the Policing and Community Safety Authority. It is essential that these recommendations, and any other oversight work that is ongoing within the Inspectorate, are not lost as part of the transition.”

The Garda Inspectorate report also flagged significant data accuracy problems, with some records listing infants as drivers of vehicles. It noted: “In some cases, dates of birth post-dated the date that the intelligence record was created. In essence, records exist with a minus date of birth.”

Intelligence records are typically created for individuals associated with criminal or suspicious activity. Since 2006, the age of criminal responsibility in Ireland has been 12.The Garda Inspectorate has referred to the creation of intelligence records for children below the age of criminal responsibility as "unusual."

In 2014, when concerns were first raised, the Inspectorate requested information from An Garda Síochána about intelligence records on children. At the time, the Gardaí stated they were unable to provide the information. However, the Inspectorate this week said they were “disappointed” upon learning that An Garda Síochána had failed to share two Garda analysis reports on the issue. These reports revealed that "unnecessary and inappropriate records were created," including one for a 42-day-old infant.

The Inspectorate report also showed that in 2015 an instruction went out to gardaí saying they must not create PULSE intelligence records for children under 12 unless it was connected to very serious offences or there were compelling reasons to do so. This had an immediate effect with the number of intelligence records falling from 1,836 in 2014 to 256 in 2015. But the numbers rose consecutively over the next five years, back up to 400 in 2020. It was only after a technical change to the PULSE system in 2020 forced gardaí to complete an assessment criteria form that the numbers decreased, dropping from 118 in 2021 to 7 in 2023.

ICCL have called on An Garda Síochána to follow the Inspectorate’s recommendations to safeguard children from being wrongfully included in PULSE intelligence records, noting that it has an obligation under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 to eliminate discrimination and protect the rights of children.

For more information on the ICCL’s response to the records, and to read questions they’ve raised, please see here.