The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the Criminal Law (Defence of Life and Property) Bill 2007 will, if enacted, be a "licence to kill" which will result in an increase in the overall level of violence, according to its director.
Mark Kelly, an international human rights lawyer, said he hoped the Bill would not become law as it gave the impression that people had a right to kill somebody "simply for being a burglar".
Mr Kelly said the Bill would authorise "the use of whatever degree of force is reasonable in the mind of a property owner" when confronted by an intruder on their property.
Under the current law, the owner has a duty to retreat rather than attack.
"When I say it's ridiculous to suggest that a private citizen, however outraged, can kill a person simply for being a burglar in a country where there is no capital punishment, I am accused of being a crazy, leftist defender of burglars.
"In fact, I am simply quoting Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman at the Court of Criminal Appeal in December 2006," he said.
Speaking at a conference on criminal justice and human rights, hosted by the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights at UCC yesterday, Mr Kelly said that it would appear that neither critical criminology nor sound legal analysis were sufficient to prevent these flawed measures from becoming part of our law. He warned: "In the scramble for votes, it is far too easy for genuine fears of crime to be whipped up into a kind of moral panic.
"Legislative measures such as the Criminal Justice Act 2007 fall squarely into this category, presenting wholly unproven measures as a panacea for serious crime."
Sonya Donnelly, a postgraduate student at UCC, said all the new laws and "apparent" protections for women, were not resulting in more women reporting crimes of rape and sexual violence or in more convictions.
Ms Donnelly explained how the attitude of the judiciary, jurors and to a lesser extent, the Garda could undermine the effect of the legislation.