Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

As my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, indicated, Sinn Féin must oppose the Bill as currently drafted. My party is concerned that the proposed legislation could be used by Governments to prevent public inquiries delivering the truth to members of the public and the families of victims of collusion. Arguably, certain collusion findings which should be made public in the interests of truth and justice may damage the State's relationship with Britain and the European Union, of which both states are members. The Government should not have the broad discretion to suppress findings on these grounds.

Further, it is likely with regard to inquiries into collusion that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform would be the responsible Minister. Since the establishment of the Free State, some Ministers for Justice acquired a track record in misusing and abusing their powers on purported grounds of State security. This has resulted in harassment of individuals and the destruction of their characters and livelihoods, with consequences for their respective families. In a recent case, a former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform leaked to the press details about a named journalist on the basis that he considered it was in the State's interest to do so. However, in so doing, he effectively destroyed the livelihood of the individual in question.

We have had cases of people being taken before special courts and sentenced to terms of imprisonment on the word of one person, despite denying the allegation being made against them. Power has also been abused, particularly by a previous Minister for Justice, Mr. Paddy Cooney, who stood over the heavy gang without any accountability. We saw the consequences of this and the then Minister's failure to uphold his obligation of office to protect civilians when innocent people were locked up in prison.

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