Ireland’s leading human rights watchdog, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has accused the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern TD of “abusing the Dáil” by attempting to force the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009 through First, Second, Committee, Report and Final Stages in the space of just two Dáil sittings.
Speaking at a press conference at Buswell’s Hotel in Dublin this morning (3 July 2009), ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“The Minister’s actions are an abuse of the Dáil, apparently designed to deny parliamentarians the opportunity to properly consider the implications of this so-called Anti-Gangland law.”
“What does the Minister have to hide? Rather a lot, as it turns out, including secret detention hearings, special courts, and detention on the word of a single low-ranking Guard. Measures of this sort are the hallmarks of police states, not mature democracies. Clearly, Dermot Ahern would prefer that these proposals avoid the democratic scrutiny of his parliamentary colleagues” he added.
The press conference was also addressed by two top criminal law practitioners, Séan Gillane BL, Chair of the Irish Criminal Bar Association and Michael Finucane, solicitor.
Séan Gillane said:
“At a time when this country is learning the lesson that little good is achieved by public bodies acting in secret, it is astonishing that the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill provides for court hearings in relation to a person’s liberty, to take place behind closed doors and in the absence of the person concerned and their legal advisers. The administration of justice in this fashion is not just a departure from our own constitutional norms but represents a serious deviation from the standards now recognised in developed democracies world-wide.”