Measures threaten our civil rights
As this is an important civil rights issue, I believe everyone should support the campaign against Mr McDowell’s draconian measures.
ASBOs can criminalise people for behaviour that is not in itself criminal. They are open to abuse by gardaí and by people with axes to grind within a community.
ASBOs are also a short-term, politically expedient response to a deeper set of social problems.
On-the-spot fines represent a critical shift in the process of law enforcement, allowing gardaí to act as judge and jury in matters that have previously been the business of the courts and therefore subject to judicial process.
These fines are also open to abuse by gardaí and, as such, are potentially as damaging to the standing of the police force as they are to members of the public.
I believe that on-the-spot fines and ASBOs are likely to be used to quell public protests and strikes and that they represent the stealthy imposition of a new form of authoritarianism on Irish society.
Paul Kinsella
53 Lorcan Grove
Santry
Dublin 9.
