Madam, - The Irish Human Rights Commission has recommended the "removal and destruction of the DNA samples of people who have not been convicted of a criminal offence as soon as possible after the conclusion of legal proceedings". Unfortunately, the Commission, by these remarks, threatens to undermine important rights.
The proposed DNA database has the potential to be a powerful investigative tool. In its present cast, however, it is both ineffective and unfair - ineffective in that it fails to draw on a significant portion of the population, and unfair in that it rests the finger of suspicion forever over those previously convicted.
The accuracy of DNA profiling is such that where DNA is found at a crime scene it constitutes a roll-call of potential suspects. Where only convicted criminals are profiled, a significant bias enters the investigative process as only convicted criminals appear on that roll-call. In fact, once convicted, a person becomes a suspect every time the DNA database is consulted.
Furthermore, in Ireland evidence of previous convictions should not normally be laid before a jury. Under the proposed legislation, however, should DNA evidence be brought at trial, there is a danger that a jury could infer that the person had been profiled on the DNA database as a result of a previous conviction.
The only solution to this problem is that which is being adopted by Portugal - the DNA profiling of the entire population. This may seem draconian, but in reality it robs DNA evidence of any unwarranted power it would possess by virtue of the bias inherent in profiling only convicted persons. It is in our very reluctance to agree to this more expansive proposal that we read the solution, as only by preserving an equality of suspicion can we ensure effective oversight of the criminal justice system. By limiting the scope of the DNA Database, as the IHRC has sought to do, we merely further prejudice and shackle investigation. - Yours, etc,
NIALL CLANCY, Castleknock, Dublin 15.