Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Two years ago, Deputy Jonathan O'Brien called for a comprehensive review of this emergency legislation. He said such a review "should focus on how to modernise the criminal justice system to make it responsive to the needs of Ireland in 2017". No review was ever conducted. We have seen little serious reform of our criminal justice system in the lifetime of this Government. Instead, the Government has wasted its time with the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 and the Bill the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, introduced. The retention of the Special Criminal Court means we will continue to be selective in how we recognise and apply human rights. We are into very dangerous territory when such selectivity is applied to rights that should be universal. Everyone should have the right to a trial by jury of his or her peers. Instead we have in Ireland a bizarre and deeply unjust situation whereby the DPP gets to decide how courts will try certain offences and whether certain offences should be tried by a jury. These laws are counterproductive and have a radicalising effect. Gangland crime and terrorism derive from deep structural inequalities in society, and successive Governments have failed absolutely to deal with these inequalities.

In November last year, the UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, said the Special Criminal Court is operating a permanent emergency and that people do not even notice any more that exceptional powers have become the norm. We are normalising what is at best a selective approach to the recognition and application of human rights. The Special Criminal Court was initially established to deal with terrorism but its jurisdiction has expanded to include serious crime. This exploitation of emergency power functions is in the same manner as disaster capitalism, the so-called shock doctrine. The special rapporteur was particularly critical of this slippage or mission creep of the court and compared it to the aftermath of 9/11, when there was a proliferation of counterterrorism norms and practices across the world, spawning de facto and permanent emergencies in national practice. She said, "The island of Ireland, more so than many parts of the world, has experienced emergency law, emergency practice, and the seepage of the exceptional into the ordinary system in ways that has not served the rule of law nor the protection of human rights well."

The special rapporteur stated that these emergency powers involve extensive and sustained human rights violations. She said she recognises that terrorism may trigger the conditions of an emergency but this does not mean a state must use emergency powers to regulate terrorism, particularly when ordinary law is sufficient and robust. She stated, "I underscore my concern that there has been an ongoing rush to counter-terrorism regulation without adequate consideration of the capacity of the ordinary law of many states to function effectively."

During previous debates on the matter, the Minister invoked the threat of international terrorism as justification for continuing a no-jury court in Ireland but the Government continues to allow Shannon Airport as a base from which to create untold destruction in other regions. If we put a stop to the use of Shannon Airport by the United States military, the threat of international terrorism to which the Minister referred would be far less significant. Why has the Government not considered this if it is really concerned about terrorism?

I will pick up on a few points made by Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, my good friend and fellow member of the justice committee. He applauds the fact that Muslims in Ireland have not been radicalised but when we speak about terrorism, we seem to forget that state terrorism is the biggest form of terrorism on the planet by a mile. There is no comparison with any other form and the number of people killed and communities destroyed by what the Americans do through their military operations is frightening. We tolerate American terrorism while we introduce draconian laws to deal with acts that are far more petty in comparison. We should cop on to ourselves.

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