Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I appreciate where the Deputy is coming from because, on occasion, distasteful photographs are published which must be deeply upsetting for relatives. I just looked at a case that was disposed of the other day which featured photographs of blood on the ground. It must be very upsetting to the victim of the crime to see that scene again and again in the newspapers but that was the way it was.

We live in a world where many of us carry mobile telephones with camera facilities and the capacity of the Garda Síochána to stop people taking pictures of crime scenes before or after a crime is fairly limited. The right of members of the public to information must be balanced. Is it reasonable to require of the media that pictures cannot be taken of a general crime scene following a shoot-out during a bank robbery? I would prefer to see if a voluntary approach could be agreed between the media and the Garda Síochána on self-restraint in this area.

Generally speaking pictures of people who are dead or dying should not be published where they would cause offence or distress. On the other hand, let us be honest about the case of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe. Pictures were shown of him lying dead in a car in which he was left by those who killed him. Maybe it is time people realised exactly what was done on that occasion and how grotesque and cowardly that offence was. This is a difficult issue about which I do not pretend to know all the answers. However, it would not be wise of me to accept an amendment prescribing that, as a general proposition, the Garda could prevent any crime scene from being photographed.

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