It hasn’t gone away...

IT may surprise some people that emergency anti-terrorist measures have been renewed for another year, more than 20 years after the cessation of violence in Northern Ireland.

The legislation, which provides for the non-jury Special Criminal Court, and has to be approved annually by the Oireachtas, was put in place after 29 people were killed in the Omagh bombing in 1998. While the measure is also used to combat the intimidation of witnesses by criminal gangs, it continues to address the ongoing threat of terrorism.