Our basic criminal laws and justice system are being changed significantly without any democratic debate and time for reflection, according to Prof Dermot Walsh of the University of Limerick.
He told the law conference that this happened as a result of the way in which the EU interpreted sections of the Amsterdam Treaty.
"It has claimed for the Union a competence in matters of criminal law and criminal justice which significantly exceeds what might have been in the contemplation of the average citizen at the time of the ratification of the," he said.
"Commitments entered into by our Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Brussels, on foot of proposals from the Commission, particularly when they take the form of framework decisions, will be binding on Ireland. They will have to be implemented into our law, and this can be done through statutory instrument.
"Even where the implementation takes the form of primary legislation there will be no real opportunity for the democratic representatives of the people to secure any significant amendments of the measures, or to throw them out altogether. The government will have to railroad the relevant legislative changes through in order to satisfy our EU obligations."
Prof Walsh said this should be of major public concern where it involved the basic substance of our domestic criminal law, as recent proposals did.
When such measures start to be railroaded through at breakneck speed in response to a single terrorist incident, no matter how grotesque that incident is, public concern should turn to alarm, he said.
"If the legacy of the Prevention of Terrorism legislation in Britain, and the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and Maguire Seven teaches us anything it is that we should never countenance significant changes in our basic criminal laws and justice system without the benefit of extensive democratic debate and adequate time for reflection."