EMMET COLDRICK,
Madam, - The recent Supreme Court decision in the Finn case regarding the lawfulness of the 20-minute detention period before the administering of an "intoxiliser" test for drunk driving raises a very important general issue that has been missed by most commentators.
It is one thing to hold that a suspect was unlawfully detained for a short period. It is quite another to hold that any evidence, of any crime, that was gathered as a result of that detention must be excluded from trial. Ireland now stands alone among common law countries in automatically excluding such evidence.
In the UK, such evidence would be admissible, subject to a discretion to exclude if admission would operate unfairly against the accused. It is not apparent that admission would have worked any unfairness in the Finn case.
In the United States and Canada, such evidence is admissible if the police acted in good faith, as they appear to have done here.
In Australia and New Zealand, the judge would have discretion regarding the admission of the evidence and, in light of the lack of unfairness, the good faith of the police and the potentially massive injustice of letting hundreds of drunk drivers off scot- free, would undoubtedly have exercised it to admit the evidence.
The Irish rule of automatic exclusion of evidence stems from a controversial Supreme Court decision in 1990, in Kenny's case. The Supreme Court was divided three to two on the issue and differed from the Court of Criminal Appeal, which had preferred a more flexible approach.
In 1965 in O'Brien's case, Mr Justice Lavery stated that excluding evidence because of minor and technical breaches of rights would "be wrong to the point of absurdity and would bring the administration of justice into well-deserved contempt."
It is time for the Supreme Court to revisit the decision in Kenny's case and to look again at how these issues are dealt with elsewhere in the common law world, in countries which also have great respect for the rights of suspects in police custody but which manage to adopt a more sensible and balanced approach. - Is mise,
EMMET COLDRICK,
Exeter College,
Oxford,
England.