PEOPLE TURN to mafia-style groups when they do not have confidence in the ability of the law to protect them, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told the World conference of Advocates and Barristers at the weekend.
“Law must work, must be seen to work, and have the confidence of the people,” he said. “If law is not based on equality, it is not law at all,” he said, recalling Martin Luther King’s dictum that people had a duty to disobey unjust laws.
The independence of the legal profession had a particular relevance, he added.
“A healthy feature of the Irish legal system is that lawyers challenge the law, especially in the areas of criminal justice and immigration. We are fortunate in having a Constitution and having mechanisms to challenge any law that does not meet the standards of the Constitution.
“It is important that lawyers fight for justice, even if that brings them into conflict with politicians, the public and the media,” Dr Martin said.
Recalling the appeals of the Old Testament prophets for justice for widows, orphans and strangers, he said: “It is the function of the law to protect the weak and vulnerable and curb the arrogance of the powerful and ensure that the law applies equally to all.”
Opening the conference, President Mary McAleese said the denial of rights sowed “toxic seeds” that were carried from generation to generation. Following the Belfast Agreement “we have gathered in the worst of that toxic harvest and the landscape is ready to be re-seeded,” she said.
That agreement included “a formidable array of checks and balances, laws and monitoring bodies. This is not perfection, but they are there to ensure it is not just words,” she said. None of them would be able to do their work properly without the involvement of lawyers, and the role of an independent bar.
She praised the heritage of Daniel O’Connell, “arguably the most brilliant lawyer ever produced in these islands” who had argued that every human being should be equal before the law.