THE Irish legal system could benefit from adopting some of the inquisitorial procedures used elsewhere in Europe, according to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Eamonn Barnes.
Writing on the need for more unified law enforcement procedures in the European Union, Mr Barnes says one of the problems has been differences in criminal procedures followed by "civil law" countries such as France, and "common law" states including the Republic.
In France the inquisitorial system gives investigative powers to an examining magistrate, while in the Republic the investigating, prosecuting and judicial functions are separate, and court cases are heard on an adversarial basis.
"I consider that the common law systems could benefit greatly from a much more inquisitorial approach to criminal investigation there is already a hint of this in Scottish procedure and that the civil law systems would be greatly enhanced by adopting, at a later stage in the process, a more accusatorial procedure and by allowing a greater and more proactive or adversarial role for the defence", Mr Barnes writes in a new book, Justice Cooperation in the European Union.
However, he notes there have been cases of people "languishing in continental jails" while suspected offences are investigated, and suggests that "the civil law systems could benefit from the principle of liberty until after conviction which is practised in varying degrees in the common law countries".
The book is published by the Institute of European Affairs, a body which promotes debate on European integration.
According to Mr Barnes transnational crime has made it important for the EU to work towards shared law enforcement methods.
Progress towards cohesion has been made in other less vital areas, but not in the area of aligning penal systems, he writes.
"It is no doubt important that I can purchase a tomato anywhere in the Union secure in the knowledge that it conforms to certain standards.
"It would seem of much greater importance that I could travel throughout the Union secure in the knowledge that what is lawful in one country is lawful in all the others and that infringements of the law will throughout have similar if not identical consequences, both in penal procedure and in penalty range.
"In the area of criminality . . . it must seem anomalous to any moderately inquisitive Martian or other nonEuropean that no attempt whatever has so far been made to achieve uniformity and cohesion in the penal area."
The DPP says nationalism and each state's high opinion of its own legal system would ensure "great suspicion regarding any attempt to introduce one extra national system", but suggests this might be overcome by trying out the new system in a restricted area, such as offences of fraud against the financial interests of the EU.
If the new system were seen to work in that area, "it could then be more easily, and objectively, evaluated as a possible model criminal justice system for Europe in the future," he writes.