Mr. Brian Gormally:

During the conflict, there was, after formal internment ended, what people called - I believe justifiably - internment by remand when individuals, usually republicans, were remanded for two years and longer. This could be viewed as a way of taking people off the streets rather than as part of the criminal justice system. Another question of terminology arises with regard to whether one describes non-mainstream republicans as dissidents. In any case, people who are political opponents of the peace process or who support those who are involved in armed actions against the peace process argue that their people are currently being interned by remand. While I do not believe this is occurring on the same scale or for the same length of time as it did during the conflict, we have had complaints around the issue. While not every complaint is justified and not every cause is sufficient to argue that these are massive breaches of human rights, none the less it is concerning that people are being held for long periods on remand, during which it emerges consistently at hearings that the police have not prepared evidence and so on. This is an issue we keep an eye on. While I would not say it is a huge issue at present, it does not inspire confidence in the criminal justice system and what we want is to have confidence in the criminal justice system on the basis that it is human rights compliant. If people were being remanded for long periods unjustifiably, that would be a human rights violation.