Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

"Alibi" has a technical meaning. An elaborate excuse for what otherwise looks like a crime is not covered by the concept of an alibi. It merely refers to physical presence at a place and other things are not covered by it.

The courts will be fairly tough on somebody who pulls a rabbit out of the hat at the last moment. On the other hand, if the prosecution became aware that a whole new line of defence was to be made by the accused, or if gardaí reported back that they now believed the accused would say he was in Spain when the crime took place or that the money in question belonged to his grandmother, the prosecuting authority must have an element of flexibility not only to bring rebutting evidence at the end of the trial but also to bring preparatory evidence as part of its case in chief to ward off particular lines of evidence which might be used against it.

The degree of notice to which an accused person is entitled very much depends on the facts of each individual case. I was struck recently by an address of an eminent senior counsel, Mr. Paul Anthony McDermott, at a conference held by the Director of Public Prosecutions in Dublin Castle. His argument was that we stack everything up in favour of the accused and leave the prosecution naked in certain circumstances. The Director of Public Prosecutions made the point that it seemed the accused could lose 100 arguments without detriment but if the prosecution lost one, the whole case collapsed. A footballing analogy was made whereby if one team scored 100 goals but the defence scored one, the game was over.

See this speech in context