THE Government should come clean" on the bail referendum because it spoke with two voices and its stance was "riddled with contradictions and unanswered questions", the co chairman of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Mr Michael Farrell, told a press conference in Dublin yesterday, organised by the Right to Bail Campaign.
"On the one hand the Government has talked about the need to deal with large numbers of offences committed on bail.
"On the other hand they say reassuringly that the bail amendment will only affect a small number of hardened criminals.
"Which statement is true? We need to know. If the amendment will affect only a handful of offenders, then it does not warrant taking the drastic step of interfering with the fundamental rights protections in the Constitution. But if the amendment will affect hundreds of people then the potential for injustice is much greater."
The chairwoman of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Ms Valerie Bresniban, said overcrowding in prisons meant that convicted criminals would have to be released to make room for people who are refused bail if the amendment is passed.
"Our research shows that 1,100 new prison places will be needed both to get rid of the present problem of overcrowding and to cope with the real and practical consequences of remand imprisonment if this referendum is passed."
She pointed out that the Government had promised approximately 700 new prison places by the end of 1999 but that was three, years after the referendum.
A statement from a number of prison chaplains which was read at the press conference said the amendment was "not in the best interest of our society".
"We believe that any increase in the number of remand prisoners will see a corresponding rise in prison suicide.
"If we are unable to deal effectively with those already on remand in prison, how are we to deal with the increase that will come about if this referendum is passed?"
At its core the referendum was about remanding more people in custody: "As it stands, Ireland is in breach of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as issued by the United Nations.
"Our committal prisons are overcrowded and are used to confine more people today than were confined in them during the middle of the last century, and while no one will accuse the Victorians of being the most caring or enlightened, yet they seem to have had greater concern for human dignity than we have today.
"The promise of more prison spaces is nothing more than a promise and as chaplains who work inside Irish prisons we have heard it all before," the statement said.
There has also been opposition to the amendment from the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams. In a statement issued from the party's Dublin office, he said it would do little to achieve its stated objective, the reduction of crime, but would instead remove another basic right and put pressure on an already overstretched prison system.
There had been a continuing erosion of civil liberties in this State for many years now.