Crime victims ‘could sue over garda leaks’

THE State could face massive civil actions from victims of crime claiming their right to privacy had been infringed by garda leaks, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.

Mr McDowell said the legal threat followed the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

"Under ECHR legislation, it will be an actionable tort for organs of the Government including An Garda Síochána to infringe someone's rights," said the minister.

This would mean the force could be sued for damages by a victim of crime who felt his or her privacy was infringed by the leaking of information regarding the crime to the media. "Future Ministers for Justice could be reaching for the chequebook to pay for victims of this behaviour," he said. The minister made the comments yesterday before the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights.

He said the ECHR underlined the need for a provision in the draft Garda Síochána Bill making it a criminal offence, in certain circumstances, for gardaí to leak information to journalists.

Under the legislation, a garda could be arrested for up to 12 hours to be extended to 24 hours under separate legislation by investigating officers.

If the garda is convicted before a higher court, he or she could be fined up to €30,000 and/or imprisoned for up to five years.

The minister said the proposal did not result, in any way, from his, or his family's, experience with gardaí, as had been claimed. He reiterated that in 1999, the then Attorney General, David Byrne, raised with then Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne cases of serious leaking by gardaí.

Mr McDowell said that, in his reply, Mr Byrne said there was no provision for arrest and detention of gardaí in relation to such cases under the Offences Against the State Act.

Mr Byrne had said it would be of "enormous assistance" if investigating gardaí could arrest and detain under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The minster said that as the ECHR had ruled that journalists could effectively protect their sources, the investigative powers to arrest and detain gardaí had to be strengthened. He said the powers would be used in relation to serious leaking for reward, where the information infringes the right to privacy, where it affects the security of the State, or where it jeopardises a prosecution.

He said there would be a number of exemptions, including whistle-blowing, information given to members of the Oireachtas and information from garda representative associations.

On other aspects of the bill, the minister said there were advantages, from a public perception point of view, to changing the name of the Garda Inspectorate to that of Ombudsman. All of the committee members welcomed the proposed establishment of local authority policing committees.