Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Deputy Charles Flanagan on his appointment as Minister for Justice and Equality. It is a significant role, in which I wish him well. I will be happy to work with him on the important issues going through his Department. We worked well with the previous occupant of the office. However, I hope he will bring his own independent viewpoint to bear on issues on his desk in the next while and have an input into them rather than being a prisoner of what the Government and the previous Government agreed to.

It is not appropriate that these important motions are being put through in such an expedited and speedy fashion. The House is required to consider important issues. The Minister has mentioned that this is done routinely each year, but it should not become routine for Members to come to the House, review what they said last year, repeat the same comments and on it goes. I revisited what I said last year and the debate must only have taken approximately 20 minutes. I have a great deal of material with me, but I only have five minutes in which to contribute. Notwithstanding that, Fianna Fáil will support the motions which seek an extension of the operation of 12 sections of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009. A number of provisions in the former relate to certain criminal offences and there are a few provisions in the latter, but at the heart of the Acts is the use of the Special Criminal Court. An objection to it is raised on an annual basis. Juries should be used as much as possible. The Constitution guarantees individuals the right to trial by jury for serious offences. However, it also recognises that there may be offences which cannot be properly adjudicated on by a jury because of the threat posed to the State and individual jurors. As the Minister said, dissident republicanism is still a threat. There is still a group of people who believe the way to achieve unity is to blow up protectants in the North to convince them to join a 32-county republic, but that is short-sighted. These people exist and we still need legislation to ensure that if they are brought before the courts, juries will not be intimidated by them.

Gangland crime is another serious issue. A number of individuals have been involved in serious criminal offences and do not have any respect for the legal system or jurors. For example, it was not possible to have juries sworn in for cases in Limerick in the past because of the fear members of the juries felt about making decisions in the serious criminal matters involved. because of this it is necessary to agree to the motions to extend the provisions relating to the Special Criminal Court. As I said during last year's debate, it is incumbent on Members who say we should not have this court to come forward with examples of miscarriages of justice. I have not seen any legitimate claim relating to a miscarriage of justice in that court in the recent past. If people are to oppose its existence, they should identify such miscarriages of justice.

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