Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are more than 70 years after the first request for a special criminal court to be set up in order to protect Ireland's neutrality. Here we are with another request to renew these powers. It looks like the Special Criminal Court is now enshrined in our legal system and almost normalised as a court setting. There is no role for it in a modern, democratic and functioning state with a functioning legal system. We know there is overwhelming support for the Good Friday Agreement and the peace that has prevailed. Ireland is not under threat but even if there were threats in 2019, surely our legal system should be adequate to deal with them without a Special Criminal Court. We have been told about all these dissident groups but there does not seem to be any recognition that many dissident groups have now turned their backs on armed struggle. Where is the engagement with those dissidents who are still committed to armed struggle to try to persuade them otherwise? It is much easier to have this continuance of the Special Criminal Court rather than that kind of engagement.

I represent the constituency that has seen more gangland crime than others. I know some people in my constituency support the Special Criminal Court but the fear relates to intimidation of juries, and there are ways to deal with that, as we have seen in countries with far more gangland crime than we have in Ireland. The best way to deal with gangland crime is to hit the perpetrators where it hurts the most, which is in their pockets. We are seeing great success in that by the Garda. We know the Special Criminal Court has been criticised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Council of Europe and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: that is ironic as Ireland has a considerable reputation on human rights. We are conveniently ignoring a basic human right, which is the right of a person to a fair trial by a jury of peers. We are continuing to give exceptional powers to this court, which allows convictions based on hearsay evidence.

I, along with others, was really appalled at what happened in a French court recently when somebody was convicted on the basis of hearsay and a psychological profiling of a person whom the psychologist in question had not even met. It seems something similar happens here as that is the type of evidence used in the Special Criminal Court. When I listened to some of this evening's contributions, I thought for a minute I lived in one of those Caribbean or Latin American countries where there are murders every five minutes of every day, with bodies being found here, there and everywhere. That is not the Ireland in which I live. I look forward to the day when the Minister will come here seeking to rescind this process and terminate the Special Criminal Court. It is an abuse of human rights and people are entitled to a jury system and to be tried by their peers. I do not see the threats outlined by the Minister and others.

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