Sir, - Vincent Browne stated (Opinion, September 9th) that the Labour Party "ducked out" on the security measures brought under the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill. I wish to refute this allegation. As the Labour Party spokesperson on Justice, I have been anxious to hold the Government to account across the spectrum of criminal and security issues, as my parliamentary record demonstrates. I have been equally anxious to maintain a constructive approach in relation to Northern Ireland. For that reason, the Labour Party took a carefully considered decision to support the broad thrust of the Government's crackdown on the Omagh bombers, while seeking to remedy some flaws in the Government's original proposals.
My party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn TD, wrote to the Taoiseach the week before the legislation was published, outlining our main concerns. This was followed by a meeting between myself and officials of Mr O'Donoghue's Department. The Government accepted a number of key changes to its proposals. This included: an expiry date for the provisions brought in under the Bill; the removal of the Garda's power to question a suspect once he is charged; the need for the Garda to present a detained person in the District Court when applying for an extension to their detention; that the Minister report to the Oireachtas on the implementation of the Act; and that disclosure provisions do not cut across the ongoing consultations on mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse.
Those concerns expressed by the Labour Party that were not accepted by the Government were tabled as amendments in the Dail. These included the compulsory videotaping of interviews and the deletion of the provisions relating to inferences drawn of membership of an illegal organisation through "associations".
I am satisfied that a broadly supportive approach achieved more than the megaphone approach championed by Mr Browne. - Yours, etc., Pat Upton, TD,
Labour Party spokesperson on Justice, College Drive, Terenure, Dublin 6W.