New legislation from Minister for Justice Michael McDowell could breach the European Convention on Human Rights, the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) warned last night.
The Minister's Criminal Justice Bill, which will, if passed, allow a jury to judge why a suspect stayed silent under Garda questioning and let gardaí hold suspects for seven days, passed its committee stage in the Dáil yesterday after just four hours.
If passed, the legislation presented "a danger of injustice", the human rights body said, adding that the Minister's attempt to impose more mandatory sentencing rules on the judiciary threatened the separation of powers.
Despite strong Opposition attacks, the Minister refused to postpone consideration of the legislation until after Easter, arguing that action has to be taken to deal quickly with gangland criminals.
However, the rights commission said, "as with previous legislation in the criminal justice area", it had not had enough time "to consider matters of significant importance to the protection of human rights".
TDs finished the Bill's committee stage yesterday afternoon, and will complete its report stage next week. The debate then moves to the Seanad after Easter, before returning to the Dáil in April or May.
The plan to allow inferences to be drawn from a refusal by a suspect to give information during the pre-trial period "must be carefully circumscribed and must be accompanied by robust safeguards", said commission chairman Dr Maurice Manning.
Existing shortcomings in the availability of pre-trial legal advice for suspects should be first addressed, while such a move should be conditional on a solicitor advising the suspect that inferences would be drawn.
Rejecting earlier criticism from barristers about the change, Mr McDowell said similar moves had been made in Britain 12 years ago without problems arising.
The commission reserved its strongest criticism for Mr McDowell's plan to allow suspects in serious cases involving explosives and firearms - such as "tiger kidnappings" - to be held for seven days' questioning.
Such detentions "raise the possibility that Ireland may be in violation of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
"The IHRC considers a seven-day detention period as a most serious curtailment on a person's right to personal liberty which requires real cause and justification," said Dr Manning.
Questioning the need for electronic tagging of suspects, Dr Manning said existing rules, such as signing on at Garda stations, worked well.
