Ireland’s leading rights watchdog, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has reacted to the President’s decision to sign the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009 into law this morning (23 July 2009).
ICCL Director Mr. Mark Kelly said:
“The ICCL respectfully notes that the President has chosen to avoid the ‘nuclear option’ of referral to the Supreme Court; however, this Act remains riddled with legal pitfalls. Any attempt to invoke some of its more contentious provisions, such as secret detention hearings, or the use of uncorroborated Garda evidence to establish facts central to a prosecution, is bound to provoke further legal challenges to its constitutionality”.
“The ICCL regrets that our Statute book now includes yet another deeply-flawed criminal justice law, which does nothing to improve life for the victims of gangland crime”, he concluded.