Public order fines - Upholding civil liberties is essential

AS the Government prepares to introduce a controversial new system that would enable gardaí to impose on-the-spot fines for alleged public order offences, the vexed question of civil liberties assumes ever-increasing significance.

That Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy favours the concept was clear when he addressed a meeting yesterday sponsored by the Irish Examiner and Waterford Chamber of Commerce.

Intriguingly, the commissioner also revealed that a working group is examining a proposal to make retailers and nightclub owners pay for extra deployment of gardaí to maintain public order late at night.

Basically, this concept stems from a Waterford initiative being examined as a means of putting more gardaí on the beat in cities and towns. It is much more than an academic exercise because up and down the country local resident groups and public representatives are demanding extra gardaí on the streets to combat an explosion of unprovoked violence by mindless thugs.

On the face of it, while the legal implications have yet to be teased out, it seems a worthwhile scheme from the taxpayer’s viewpoint, as it would put the onus on clubs and retailers to pay for heavier security resulting from their business activities.

Another issue exercising the minds of both the Government and the gardaí is the thorny question of imposing on-the-spot fines for those who commit public order offences.

Commissioner Conroy believes this would free up time for gardaí who on average take around three hours to process each offence. The thinking is that fines would release them to do their real job of maintaining law and order.

While the motivation behind this initiative sounds commendable, the civil liberties aspect must be considered with great care and much caution.

Potentially, the principle of a garda deciding whether or not a person has committed a public order offence is fraught with danger. A possible Catch-22 scenario could arise if someone opted to bring the matter to court.

There is a distinct possibility that an even heavier fine would be imposed if the judge felt the appellant was taking up yet more garda time.

Moreover, if the gardaí become judge and jury, citizens could be deprived of their right to due process. Were that to happen, relations between them and the public would inevitably be soured.

Furthermore, the risk of alleged offenders giving the gardaí false identities raises the spectre of mandatory ID cards being introduced by a Government seized with policies designed to enable the ‘Nanny State’ to increasingly intrude into peoples’ lives.

Though many see the ban on smoking in the workplace in this light, the overwhelming majority of Irish people support the policy as a positive measure which is already improving public health and saving billions of euro in the process.

If, as seems likely, the on-the-spot-fines proposal is introduced, strict checks and balances must be put in place to safeguard the civil liberties of the public.