David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:

“Amendment of Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994

3. The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 is amended by the insertion of the following after section 4:“4A. (1) (a) Where a person—

(i) is in custody in a Garda Síochána station having been arrested under section 24 or for the offence at common law of breach of the peace, and

(ii) is, but for this section, to be released from custody,

he or she may, if the member of the Garda Síochána for the time being in charge of the Garda Síochána station is of opinion that the person is intoxicated to such an extent as would give rise to a reasonable apprehension that the person might endanger himself or herself or other persons, be detained in custody for such period, not exceeding 6 hours from the time of his or her arrest, as the member of the Garda Síochána so in charge remains of that opinion.

(2) Where the member of the Garda Síochána for the time being in charge of the Garda Síochána station is of opinion that the person detained under subsection (1) is under the age of 18 years, the member shall, upon the attendance at the station of a parent or guardian of the person or of a person reasonably named by the person so detained, release the person into the custody of the parent or guardian or the person reasonably named, unless the member is of opinion that the person continues to be intoxicated to such an extent that, if so released, he or she will continue to give rise to a reasonable apprehension that he or she might endanger himself or herself or other persons.

(3) Nothing in this section shall affect the operation of section 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 1951 (Proceedings on arrest) or section 53 of the Children Act 2001 (Duty of Garda Síochána in relation to certain under-age children).

(4) In this section ‘intoxication’ has the same meaning as it has in section 4.”.”.

This amendment inserts a new section 3 into the Bill which will insert a new section 4A into the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994. The new provision concerns detention of intoxicated persons in Garda stations in circumstances where those persons, if released, would be a danger to themselves or others. It allows An Garda Síochána to detain intoxicated persons who have been arrested for public order offences under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act and who, but for this new provision, would be released. Such persons can be detained for a period not exceeding six hours, where the member in charge of the Garda station in which the persons are in custody is of the opinion that they are intoxicated to such an extent as to be considered a danger to themselves or to other persons if released. The provision also allows release prior to the expiration of the six hour detention period. To date, An Garda Síochána has relied on a presumed common law duty of care to intoxicated persons to justify such detention. However, this practice has no statutory basis and this amendment to the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act will provide for such a statutory basis.