McDowell cracks same old whip

IN VIEW of the recent surge in violent crime, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has announced new legislation which he claims is “a comprehensive programme of measures” against “those who have showed a callous disregard for the rule of law”.

He outlined plans for lengthened periods of detention, a DNA database and specific provisions against gangs and organised crime which, we are told, will become law by Easter.

As with many ‘new’ and ‘unprecedented’ legislative measures announced by the Government, the proposals are reheated versions of old promises, and the bombastic press releases which accompany them have been reworded accordingly.