Green TD expresses ‘concern’ over crime bill

THE Green Party appeared at odds with its partners in government over sweeping gangland laws allowing trials without jury which are being rushed through the Dáil before it breaks for a three-month recess.

The Criminal Justice Amendment Bill 2009 will be debated again next Thursday and Friday following strong criticism yesterday from the opposition parties and civil rights groups that such significant laws were being hurried through the Dáil without proper scrutiny.

In a debate on the bill, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern denied claims the laws could be unconstitutional. He said the laws were absolutely necessary to overcome jury intimidation in gang crimes.

“No doubt jurors will continue to do their duty conscientiously in a wide range of cases but this bill recognises that special measures must be taken in the case of offences involving organised crime,” he said.

But Fine Gael spokesperson on justice Charlie Flanagan said there was no evidence that jurors in such cases were being intimidated. “Our Constitution enshrines the right to trial by jury, and if Minister Ahern intends this bill to survive a constitutional challenge, or a challenge in a supranational court, then he must be able to produce evidence non-jury trials are warranted by facts in previous gangland trials,” he said.

Green Party justice spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe joined with Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin in expressing “concern” over introducing trial without jury.

He said the proposed laws “will not necessarily solve this problem of trying gangland criminals”.

Mr Cuffe said: “On the issue of jury tampering or intimidation, there are a number of alternate measures which could be considered, including anonymous juries, video-link communication and restricting the jury from public view.”

Mr Cuffe was also critical of the guillotine — or the time limit on the debate — which was imposed by the Government.

“For legislation as profound as this to be published on a Tuesday morning and to be passed a mere seven sitting days later does not do the house any service.

“One key role of a parliament is scrutiny. The full implications of this legislation need to be teased out and ventilated,” he said.

Mr Cuffe said he will vote with the Government in favour of the bill next Friday despite his reservations. “What I wanted to do is put my concerns on the record. My intention wasn’t to lob a grenade into Government,” he said.

Labour Party’s Pat Rabbitte expressed strong concerns about the proposed laws, which, he said, were more about populism than preserving law and order.

“What is special about the Special Criminal Court is that it sits without a jury, and there is one justification only for a non-jury court, that is, where jury members are being intimidated. There is no evidence that jury members are being intimidated,” he said.

“On the other hand, there is evidence of intimidation of witnesses. How does this bill protect witnesses by sending these cases to the Special Criminal Court?,” he asked.

Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh said witness intimidation was a far greater problem than threats to juries. He said: “The anecdotal evidence in Limerick is that more people tune into the Garda radio frequencies than tune into RTÉ Radio 1. This has been a problem for more than 10 years and it could have been addressed many years ago.”