Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has strongly defended proposals to curb a suspect's right to silence, saying most people agreed that the refusal of serious criminals to answer questions in Garda custody was unacceptable.
He was speaking after leading criminal law barrister Michael O'Higgins SC criticised the proposal and many other anti-gangland measures contained in a new legislative package unveiled on Tuesday. The full Criminal Justice Bill 2007 will be published in a fortnight's time.
Mr McDowell said his proposals on the right to silence mirrored recommendations from the expert group on balance in the criminal justice system that inferences should be drawn as to the guilt or innocence of a suspect when he or she remained silent in the face of serious allegations.
That group was chaired by one of Ireland's foremost experts on constitutional law, Gerard Hogan SC, and it produced a 50-page report on the matter.
"So the suggestion that I'm rushing something through or the implication that I dreamt this up on the back of a beer mat or just dreamt this up as an on-the-spot idea, that's not right," Mr McDowell said.
Mr O'Higgins had earlier expressed very serious reservations about the measures included in the headings of the new Bill published on Tuesday. "I have to say that I am extremely sceptical that many or indeed any of these measures are warranted," he said.
"There are already seven-day periods of detention set out in the Drug Trafficking Act of 1996 and to my knowledge the seven-day period has never, ever been used." Mr O'Higgins said the right to silence was one of the most fundamental in the criminal justice system.
Restrictions on access to bail were being proposed on the basis of there being a crisis with current laws, he said. Yet the only data put forward to support this was the suggestion before Christmas that 23 of 24 members of a major crime gang from Finglas, Dublin, were out on bail.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has welcomed Mr McDowell's proposed measures, which include new powers for gardaí to detain gun crime suspects for up to seven days without charge.
However, GRA president John Egan called for "a quicker delivery of fundamental resources within the force, particularly in relation to Garda numbers".
The Green Party doubted whether the new Bill would be enacted in the lifetime of the current Dáil. Its justice spokesman, Ciarán Cuffe, said: "What we really need to tackle organised crime is good old-fashioned policing. We need effective evidence-gathering and good relations between the gardaí and the communities in which crime is rooted."
Sinn Féin's justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh dismissed the mooted legislation as an "election stunt". "His macho posturing allows him to pose as tough on crime but in reality, by using failed strategies, he is soft on crime," he said of Mr McDowell.
