Human rights body concerned at Garda Ombudsman restrictions

A EUROPEAN human rights body has more powers to enter garda stations than the new Garda Ombudsman, a State-appointed watchdog said yesterday.

The Human Rights Commission said that while the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture could go into a garda station at will, the Garda Ombudsman must give prior notice and can be denied entry by the justice minister.

The HRC said that while it generally welcomed the Garda Síochána Bill 2004, under which the ombudsman is being set up, it still had a number of serious concerns.