Labour wants President to intervene on crime bill

PRESSURE mounted last night for the President to make a rare intervention in party politics and send a controversial crime crackdown bill to the Supreme Court.

Labour demanded the move as it stepped up opposition to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern’s flagship raft of measures intended to smash the grip of organised crime gangs in Limerick and Dublin.

The most contentious measure in the legislation gives the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sweeping powers to order suspects to be tried by the jury-less Special Criminal Court.