Government accused of trying to ‘steamroll’ changes

The Government was yesterday accused of attempting to ‘‘steamroll’’ significant changes to the criminal justice system without adequate time for debate.

Opposition parties insisted that with 20 sitting days remaining until the Dáil’s Easter recess, only 13 days may be available for debating and enacting the proposed legislation which includes more than 50 reforms.

The bill, being introduced by Justice Minister Michael McDowell, is due for publication within the next two weeks.

Yesterday, the Green Party’s Ciaran Cuffe said he was concerned at both the content of the package and timing of its introduction.

He described the proposed changes as ‘‘yet another example’’ of the Justice Minister attempting to ‘‘steamroll complicated and controversial legislation”.

‘‘It is bizarre that Minister McDowell has announced these measures in his final weeks in Government, despite his Party having been in power for almost 10 years,’’ he said.

Mr Cuffe said the proposed removal of the right to silence for certain crimes was ‘‘extremely worrying’’.

Furthermore, he said current legislation already allowed for the detention of a suspect for seven days but had been proven to be largely ineffective.

Fine Gael’s Jim O’Keeffe claimed there is ‘‘almost no hope’’ the bill would be enacted by end of this Dáil since it has not even been drafted.

The concerns of opposition parties were echoed by barrister, Michael O’Higgins, who said he was ‘‘extremely sceptical’’ about the proposed measures, adding that the criminal justice system should not be ‘‘torn up’’ three months before a general election without debate.

He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the proposed new bails laws had followed a ‘‘crime crisis’’ and that the minister needed to produce data justifying the changes.

However, Mr McDowell defended his decision to publish legislation within two weeks and with only months remaining to an election.

‘‘It is not impulsive, I would say. I don’t give up my job just because we are coming towards an election. People would be very surprised if I said I’m doing nothing about this, it’s too serious to tackle before an election,’’ he said.