Rights group says no basis for not using jury

THERE is no evidence to show there is a problem of jury tampering which would justify moving all organised crime cases to the non-jury Special Criminal Court, the State’s official rights body has said.

The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said that even if there was a problem, there were ways to protect juries, as shown in Britain.

Responding to the publication of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009, IHRC president Maurice Manning said the Government was “clearly acting in contravention” of the UN Human Rights Committee which had already criticised Ireland for continuing to use the Special Criminal Court (SCC).