A relic of our troubled past: time to abolish the Special Criminal Court

The primary contemporary justification for the use of the Special Criminal Court is organised crime, which the Oireachtas annually declares the ordinary courts inadequate to deal with. But human rights advocates have repeatedly warned of the dangers of the creeping reach of emergency powers and called for its abolition, writes Claire McEvoy

The current iteration of a non-jury court, the Special Criminal Court, was introduced in 1972 at a moment of deep crisis for the justice system and the State, with extraordinary levels of violence in Northern Ireland and paramilitary attacks targeting gardaí and judges in this jurisdiction. File picture

Opening the new legal year in the Four Courts this month, Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell reflected on the decision to reinstate the civil opening ceremony after a century of religious services. 

These services, introduced as a temporary measure following the political turmoil of the 1920s, eventually became normalised as the ‘official’ opening ceremony.