Dáil debates

Thursday, 29 March 2007

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

3:00 pm

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

On the Tánaiste's final point, bail applications are often made within hours of an arrest. Is he seriously stating that a chief superintendent would be able to make himself aware of the requisite knowledge relating to a person in that time? That is a strange procedure. As Deputy Howlin stated, gardaí are already in a position to make their opinions known but this is not regarded as evidence. It is stated in the new section 2A(1) to be inserted into the 1997 Act that the "statement is evidence". In addition, the new section 2A(2) states: "Evidence given by such a member in the proceedings is not admissible in any criminal proceedings." If the evidence is not good enough to be admissible in criminal proceedings, it should not be acceptable in respect of a bail application because, at that stage, it would be no more than hearsay, rumour or supposition. The judicial system is not based on hearsay, rumour or supposition, it is based on provable fact. Opinion is not provable.

In previous cases, chief superintendents argued that their opinions were based on confidential material. Thankfully, the courts eventually ruled that this was not sufficient. A recent change to this assertion on the part of chief superintendents was that their evidence was based on evidence contained in Garda files. Defence counsel are not in a position to access such files and are not, therefore, in a position to rebut any presumptions a chief superintendent might make in offering his or her opinion. As events in Donegal have shown, gardaí can be vindictive. We need to ensure that nothing in the future allows such a person to block somebody from liberty. If a court decides in time to convict somebody, that person will be convicted on evidence of provable facts. Even in the case of bail applications, we should not allow for hearsay or rumour to prevent somebody from being at liberty.

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