Dail must get time to discuss most serious proposals in Justice Bill
Issued : Thursday 15 March, 2007
"Members of the Oireachtas today finally received copies of the Criminal Justice Bill 2007, allowing just a week for an examination of what, without doubt, are some of the most serious proposals ever to be put before the Dail in terms of the criminal law.
"The Labour Party accepts that the criminal law has to be adopted from time to time to take account of new developments in regard to crime, but the pattern with the Minister has been of returning to the Dail time after time with new measures. Indeed it is only nine months since we completed consideration of the last Criminal Justice Bill which was supposed to give the Minister and the Gardai all the powers they needed to deal with serious crime.
No we are back with a new set of proposals, some of which were rejected by the Minister last year.
"Given the seriousness of some of the provisions, it is essential that the Dail be given adequate time for the detailed line by line consideration that it deserves. For instance the Bill repeats a number of provisions of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act of 1998 which, although introduced in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing, were regarded of such seriousness by the Oireachtas that they had to be renewed on a yearly basis since then. Yet these are now to become a permanent part of our criminal law. The Oireachtas would be failing in its duty, if it did not subject such a proposal to the closest possible scrutiny.
"I will also be seeking an assurance the Dail will not be faced with reams of additional last minute amendments from the Minister, as has been the pattern with many of the major pieces of legislation introduced by Mr. McDowell.
"I welcome the provision in the Bill for the establishment of a Garda Siochana Executive Management Board. While it falls short of the Independent Garda Authority proposed by the Labour Party, it is a step in the right direction as it is the first occasion on which outside nominees will be involved in the supervising the management of the force.
"For several years the government resisted the case put forward by the Labour Party for the establishment of a Garda Ombudsman, before taking on most of the core elements of our proposals in the Garda Ombudsman Commission. I hope that the new Executive Management Board will be the first step towards the creation of an Independent Authority that has worked so well in Northern Ireland."
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