Dáil debates

Wednesday, 29 April 2009

Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill 2009: Second Stage

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

On behalf of Fine Gael, I wish to support the Bill and I welcome the initiative that has been introduced by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I acknowledge the work undertaken, particularly by the Law Reform Commission a long number of years ago, which prepared the ground for this legislation. I also wish to acknowledge the work, in more recent times, of the Oireachtas Library research team whose members prepared a fine document which has just come to my attention. Due to pressure of time I have not yet had an opportunity to read it in full, other than giving it a cursory glance. However, it seems to be a fine document and will be a great resource for Members in dealing with this legislation.

I thank the Minister and his officials for making themselves available to provide a briefing which I attended. The Bill will allow background material gained by covert surveillance to be used in evidence, either to support criminal charges or as a basis for a charge of conspiracy in its own right. While gardaí have been conducting overt and covert surveillance for many years, this Bill will leave us in less doubt that the information so gathered can not only be presented as evidence in court, but also be admissible as evidence. It can also form part of the body of opinion that will ultimately lead to the conviction of guilty parties.

I hope we can complete the legislation by the summer recess. In that regard I look forward to facilitating the Minister on Committee Stage, although we must have an opportunity of ensuring that we can go through the Bill on a line by line basis. Fine Gael will support any measures to ensure that organised criminals in the State, and gangland crime in general, are successfully tackled.

Looking back, we see a conviction rate in the order of 12% for the 171 shootings that took place in the past decade. There can be no doubt, therefore, that our evidence-gathering mechanisms require an overhaul. This legislation will no doubt assist in that regard. Covert surveillance legislation is essential in the fight against organised crime. Currently, gardaí monitor criminals under targeted operations such as Operation Anvil. It seems to be somewhat less than satisfactory, however, if the material they gather in the course of a criminal investigation cannot be admissible at a subsequent trial. That is unsustainable, so I acknowledge the Minister's commitment towards addressing this difficulty.

However, in its own right, this legislation will not comprehensively address gangland crime, organised criminals and the threat posed to our democratic society. Alongside this legislation, the Minister must ensure, for example, that the resources available to the State prosecution services are such as to be satisfactory to meet the needs of the Garda Síochána. The DPP himself has indicated that given a 3% cut in his funding for last year, it will be impossible for his office to process its current workload. Nonetheless, we hear flowery statements on the Minister's part and tough talking to the effect that gangland crime is to be no more and that all the resources of the State will be made available. These utterances are echoed by his Government colleagues, particularly in the Limerick area, yet we have an unprecedented statement of anxiety from no less a figure than the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It is also important that the Garda national surveillance unit, which I understand will run the new bugging and tapping operation, is properly resourced. The Garda Commissioner is on record as saying that this legislation will not require the establishment or introduction of a new Garda unit and that the national surveillance unit will be charged with responsibility for running the operation. However, that body will be charged with handling an increased workload, on the basis that written records of procedures must be kept. The legislation places a considerable onus of responsibility as far as written records are concerned, and I am sure we will see more of that in the ministerial regulations. This level of resources will demand a commitment on the Minister's part that I am sure will be forthcoming before we conclude the debate on this Bill.

As I mentioned earlier on the Order of Business, the establishment of a DNA database is long overdue. It will be a key factor in improving the abysmal — I do not use that word lightly — conviction rate for the heinous crime of murder in this State. We, in this Republic, should maintain a DNA database, as other European states do, and participate in information sharing in this area. I look forward to the publication of the relevant legislation this year.

The matter of resources for the Garda and State prosecution services arises. It flies in the face of waste management practice and curtailment efforts in the Minister's Department and agencies under his jurisdiction that a bill of €1,000 was paid to change a light bulb in a Garda station. I hope the Minister will take the opportunity to have a word with his learned colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, who recently retained his position in the Department of Finance. At a time when expenditure on the building programme for Garda stations has been slashed and Garda stations are to suffer a reduction in activity, it is farcical that the Office of Public Works, in the knowledge of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Garda Síochána, can pay bills of €1,000 to change a light bulb or two. I ask the Minister to conduct an investigation into this matter to determine what precisely are the circumstances of the case. I wonder whether Mr. Colm McCarthy and his colleagues, from whom we await a report, have visited a couple of Garda stations in the course of their review.

In the context of forthcoming miscellaneous provisions legislation on the fight against crime, I ask the Minister to examine a Private Members' Bill I published late last year. His record on accepting or even acknowledging Private Members' Bills is poor.

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