Labour hits out at search warrant system 'mess'

Ireland’s search warrant system is in a “complete mess”, it was claimed today.

The Labour Party called for the issue to be urgently addressed as the Government confirmed it has sought “urgent advice” from the Attorney General on a court ruling which could render a large number of warrants invalid and potentially overturn convictions.

Justice spokesman Joe Costello claimed the Supreme Court judgement, which concerns the requirement for warrants to be issued by judges in their own districts, exposed yet another problem in the system.

“This needs to be addressed by the Justice Minister to bring clarity to the situation,” he said. “But this is not the first or only difficulty with the law on search warrants.

“There are too many loopholes and legal uncertainties about the administration of search warrants which need to be resolved by the minister as soon as possible.”

The loophole involves search warrants issued to gardaí or agencies by judges not sitting in their own District Court area.

It came to light two weeks ago when Dylan Creaven from Ennis, Co Clare, charged with a €150m VAT fraud, won his case after challenging the validity of warrants issued to the Criminal Assets Bureau to search his properties.

The Supreme Court ruled that 11 out of 12 warrants issued were invalid, having been issued by a judge not sitting in the district he had been temporarily assigned.

Mr Costello highlighted problems already associated with the system in the case of Judge Brian Curtin, who was acquitted of possessing child pornography when it emerged the warrant to search his Tralee home was out of date.

“There is also the issue about the very high number of warrants which are issued by judges which seemed to be rubber-stamped in most cases by judges,” he added.

“These flaws in the law are likely to be further compounded by the provision in the new Criminal Justice Bill which will allow a Garda Superintendent to issue a search warrant to a garda without recourse to the courts.

“In the absence of a tidying-up of the legal mess that already exists around search warrants, that power will only make the problem worse.”

The Attorney General Rory Brady is expected to report back to Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s office on the loophole before Christmas.

A department spokeswoman said the option of introducing emergency legislation had not been ruled out.