Discussions over using facial recognition to assist Gardaí

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The Tanaiste says he's in favour of using facial recognition technology to assist Gardaí in tackling serious crimes, such as murder and child abuse.

It follows the Green Party calling for a longer legislative process with the technology undergoing further scrutiny.

The party wants to see guidelines on the software introduced, so that it's not used indiscriminately by Gardaí.

Tanaiste, Michael Martin, says use of the technology needs to be balanced with the necessary safeguards:

"We live in a very difficult world, technology is moving on very substantially but I think it is important that we provide the tools to An Garda Síochana that is necessary to deal with some heinous crimes that do occur."

"Obviously safeguards have to be put in place and a paper has been developed in respect of this which had been called for some time.

"So the legislative vehicle is not quite the issue in reality, it would be my view."