Organised crime would be best tackled by enforcing existing law rather than creating new "anti-gangland" legislation, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.
Prof Ivana Bacik of Trinity College Dublin's law department said: "Some minor legislative changes, such as placing the witness protection programme on a statutory basis, may be useful.
"However, changes in policing practice are likely to be more effective in tackling organised or gang crime."
Addressing concerns over the collapse of recent murder trials, she said that a recent study by the UK Home Office had found that 8 per cent of victims and witnesses suffered intimidation, but only 1 per cent said this was with a view to deter them from giving evidence.
She said she would be "wary" of following the example of Canada where provisions were introduced in 1997 allowing taped interviews with suspects be shown in courts to prevent them from retracting statements.
A further provision, making membership of a criminal gang an offence, had been subject to "strong criticism" in Canada.
Prof Bacik noted that gang members could already be convicted in the Republic under "common design" or "joint enterprise" categories.
Also warning against "knee-jerk" reactions to recent court cases, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said every effort should be made to secure forensic and other evidence for use at trial in order to minimise reliance on witness testimony. Sole reliance on such testimony was not good practice, the ICCL said..
Mr Michael Finucane, a solicitor and member of its executive committee, said "flagrantly illegal practices", where people were at serious risk of being convicted on the basis of questionable statements, had been revealed in some recent cases.
He claimed that a "huge swathe" of rules had been broken in the case surrounding the murder of a civil servant, Mr Brian Fitzpatrick, which collapsed in the Central Criminal Court last month.
The State's detention and interrogation system needed to be seriously updated before considering changing the balance between the suspect and the interrogator, the latter of whom was always at an advantage, he said.
Mr Finucane said suspects should have their interviews videoed as a matter of course and be entitled to have a lawyer present when questioned.
The latter provision had been in place in the UK since 1984 and, while payment for the service would probably come from the public purse, it was better value than two weeks of legal submissions by senior and junior counsel, as witnessed in the Fitzpatrick case.
Also addressing the committee was Mr P.J. Fitzpatrick, chief executive of the Courts Service, who said it hoped to seek tenders for a new criminal court complex in Dublin next year.
The agency is seeking funding for the facility, which would include video-conferencing and victim support services, under a public private partnership.
