Group concerned at proposed powers

CIVIL liberties groups and legal experts have expressed concern at provisions in a bill extending the powers of gardaí.

The proposed legislation will allow gardaí to detain suspects for longer and enable them to take DNA samples against a person’s will, for storing in a database.

The Criminal Justice (Garda Powers) Bill was due to be published this week, but has been deferred until next month.

Aisling Reidy of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties said: “We would have concerns about greater coercive powers and longer detention, particularly in light of the failure to do anything to improve access to legal representation.”

She pointed out that suspects could only talk to legal representatives outside garda interviews, and not during the actual questioning.

The legislation, some two years in the making, will:

lIncrease the maximum detention period from 12 to 24 hours on the authority of a senior officer for crimes punishable by a minimum five-year sentence.

lChange the law to make saliva a non-intimate sample for DNA testing and allow gardaí to use reasonable force to take a sample.

lEstablish a DNA database to store samples, allowing gardaí to check samples from suspects against it.

Other proposals include:

lEnabling the district court to issue a general warrant to search a premises in the context of a crime, replacing search warrants for specific offences.

lGiving senior gardaí the power to issue a search warrant in exceptional circumstances.

lGiving gardaí statutory powers to seal off a crime scene and refuse entry until a proper examination has taken place.

“The things we’ll be looking for in the Garda Powers Bill is where the safeguards and limitations are, particularly around search warrants, detention periods, coercion to take swabs and the DNA database,” said Ms Reidy.

Professor Dermot Walsh of the University of Limerick said that if the detention period is extended, gardaí should be obliged to take suspects to stations with video-recording equipment.

Gardaí have privately called for the powers, pointing out that current detention periods were too limited.

The only exceptions are the Offences Against the State Act, which allows 72 hours’ detention, and the Drug Trafficking Act, which allows up to seven days.

Former head of the State Forensic Laboratory Dr Jim Donovan repeatedly called for gardaí to be given the power to take DNA samples by force if necessary.

He said a DNA database would save gardaí time spent on searching and questioning.