An Garda Síochána's decision to publish photos of 99 "persons of interest" means there is a risk of false accusations and “vigilante justice”, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has said.
Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Dublin riots approaches, Gardaí have asked the public to help identify 99 'persons of interest' this morning.
Gardaí have published the photos on their official website and members of the public can click on the images to send on relevant information about the person.
On Lunchtime Live, Irish Council for Civil Liberties spokesperson Olga Cronin said there may be "legitimate" reasons for Gardaí to share images with the public - but this must be done in compliance with data protection laws.
"They need to consider the principles of proportionality when they release images to the media," she said.
"So, they need to determine that it’s necessary and that it’s in the public interest.
"Incidentally, we don’t know what guidelines or protocols the guards follow when it comes to releasing imagery to the media and it would be useful if they could publish those as it happens in other jurisdictions."
Fair trial
Ms Cronin said the publishing of images this morning is a "significant outsourcing of police work by the guards".
"It does seem odd to the ICCL that the Gardaí would do this exercise," she. said.
"It’s a quintessential PR name and shame exercise coming up to the anniversary of the incident last year," she said.
Ms Cronin said a number of issues are likely to rise following the Garda decision to publish photos.
"People have a right to a presumption of innocence; they have a right to fair trial," she said.
"If these images are circulated widely with the person’s identification, they could end up before a potential juror and will that impact on the trial?"
Vigilante justice
Ms Cronin said Gardaí may be unknowingly "inviting a kind of vigilante justice" and that false accusations may occur.
"Will some people give false names or addresses for individuals they dislike to have Gardaí wrongfully or arbitrarily interfere with their lives?" she said.
Gardaí have said they will remove images from the website as soon as they identify a person.
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