DNA laws ready by end of year

LAWS to allow for the collection and storage of DNA samples in Garda investigations are still on course for a pre-Christmas publication date, the Department of Justice has said.

The department’s assurance came as the Garda Commissioner stressed the importance to gardaí of having more sophisticated means of proving serious offences.

Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the days when gardaí could depend on confessions obtained from suspects during questioning to back up their prosecutions were gone because criminals knew how to cite the law to evade questions and were practised in techniques of withstanding pressure to admit responsibility.