The 1997 Criminal Justice Bill has been roundly condemned as "a pathetic version" of the zero tolerance policy advocated by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, while in Opposition.
Describing the Bill as "a damp squib and a flawed one at that", the Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, said mandatory minimum sentencing based on the value of drugs possessed was "a very dangerous principle". Mandatory sentencing was contrary to the proper separation of functions between the courts and the Oireachtas, he added.
Questioning how an arbitrary figure of £10,000 could be used "as a legal trigger" to bring an alleged drug trafficker within the scope of the Bill, Mr Higgins inquired as to how an accused would know the value of drugs, since this was an unlawful market with no prices published.
He also described as "a bad principle" the exclusion of publication of court proceedings since "justice should be done in public in accordance with Article 34.2 of the Irish Constitution".
He was "concerned" that the issues of inference being drawn from refusal to answer questions or give bodily samples had not been dealt with in the Bill. If the legislation was to be truly comprehensive, these issues should have been included.
Ms Liz McManus, Democratic Left justice spokeswoman, said she would be tabling amendments to the Bill when it came before the House. The publication of the Bill demonstrated that the Minister's pronouncements on zero tolerance were little more than "pre-election macho posturing".
"With the exception of the provisions relating to mandatory sentencing for certain drug offences, the Bill consists largely of improvements in administrative procedures in the courts which will be generally non-controversial. Indeed, many of these were under consideration by the previous government," she said.
Also expressing serious reservations about the principle of mandatory sentences, Ms McManus said the proposals took away virtually every element of discretion from a judge hearing a case.