Gardaí warn of threat to gangland legislation

RANK-AND-FILE gardaí are concerned that controversial gangland legislation rushed through the Dáil last week could be open to legal challenge.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) is particularly worried about a key provision in the Criminal Justice Bill 2009, which allows gardaí of any rank – not just senior officers – to give opinion evidence in trials.

GRA secretary general PJ Stone said the evidence of a garda could be interpreted in court as “an individual opinion” and not the collective opinion of the force, as expressed by a senior garda. This could, he suggested, lead to defendants challenging the legislation.

In a hard-hitting assessment of the legislation, Mr Stone also said the legislation could not “disguise the Government’s failure” to maintain Garda numbers and provide proper funding for operations tackling gangland.

“This kind of legislation masks the real problem of resources being substantially reduced,” he said.

The Criminal Justice Bill was passed overwhelmingly in the Dáil last week and goes before the Seanad today.

The bill will become law when it is signed by President Mary McAleese, unless she refers it to the Supreme Court in order to test its constitutionality.

“The Garda Representative Association called upon the last government for legislation to tackle gangland crime, and we welcome initiatives to face down the brutal killers that have emerged from the new breed of organised criminal gangs,” said Mr Stone.

“We have yet to be convinced that legislation rushed through the Dáil will be robust and not subject to legal challenges.

“We are concerned that the onus and responsibility for Garda testimony will be placed on all ranks; the rank and file gardaí are often the investigators who produce the files of evidence and these are sufficient for senior ranks to present to the judiciary. This evidence is vital – and the courts must see it as the gathered intelligence of the force.”

Under the bill, any garda can give expert opinion on the existence of a criminal organisation.

“There is a general concern that if a garda gives evidence, it could be interpreted as individual garda opinion, not the corporate voice of the entire force, as when a chief superintendent gives evidence,” said Mr Stone.

Concerns over the legality and constitutionality of the bill have already been expressed by the Human Rights Commission, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and 130 leading barristers and solicitors.

A spokesman for Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said the legislation had been “parsed and analysed” by the Attorney General and that both he and the minister were happy it would withstand legal challenge.

He said a decision was made to allow a garda of any rank give expert opinion as such gardaí would have the “local knowledge” of a gang’s existence that a chief superintendent, who might not even be based in the area, may not have.

He said the expert opinion referred to in the bill was not the same as the opinion evidence given by a chief superintendent.