McDowell pushes for videotaped Garda interviews

VIDEOTAPING of garda interrogations is being pushed through as a priority, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.

He hopes the move will end controversies surrounding the legitimacy of confessions, some of which have dogged a number of high-profile court cases. But many gardaí, while generally supportive of videotaping, complain that criminals are gaining access to the tapes and using them to train people in anti-interrogation techniques.

“It is something I place a lot of emphasis on. Videotaping of suspects and sound recording is something that is practised elsewhere very effectively and I intend to push for its use on a general and routine basis,” said Mr McDowell.

The minister criticised gardaí for their failure to rapidly introduce the system when he was Attorney General in November 2000.

Speaking at a human rights conference in Dublin Castle he said: “It is about time the foot-dragging stopped. Videotaping is essential to the administration of justice. There is a lack, perhaps, of will to bring it about.” Now, almost two years later, he said: “I don’t know why it has been so slow to happen. I have spoken to the Garda Commissioner and he assured me that there was no resistance to the idea in principle. ” He said the system would have to be in every place where suspects were likely to be routinely questioned. The absence of recordings has led to a number of high-profile controversies surrounding interviews presented in the courts:

In the Paul Ward trial, in relation to the murder of Veronica Guerin, the judges ruled all testimony from his interviews as inadmissable.

In the Colm Murphy trial, in connection with the Omagh bombing, Mr Justice Robert Barr strongly criticised two gardaí for rewriting interview notes.

The GRA said it welcomed videotaping, because it would end vexatious claims against gardaí.