Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I am opposed to extending the powers of the Offences against the State Act. I agree with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Committee that the Special Criminal Court should be abolished. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has stated:

There is no jury at the Special Criminal Court and it accepts secret evidence from gardaí. This is in violation of our right to a fair trial, our right to trial by jury and our right to equality before the law.

The Government likes to portray itself, as does the State, as modern, liberal, and democratic. However, here we have a major contradiction in that the State has a parallel legal system without the democratic norms one would expect.

This issue is a litmus test for Sinn Féin as it prepares for government. Sinn Féin portrays itself as defenders of the rights of the people. Does that party stand by principle or does it, like the Green Party before it, bow to establishment pressure on this issue and insist on allowing the maintenance of the status quo? Sinn Féin has abstained on this issue in recent years citing an independent review in the pipeline. However, the review is clearly headed towards maintaining the system, by and large. Deputies who abstain today will do so in the full knowledge that they are failing to challenge a system of non-jury courts and a parallel legal system with inferior rights.

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