Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "ending on 29th June, 2026":

"; and

— calls on the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to bring forward legislation to give effect to the recommendations of the Independent Review Group without further delay.". The continued use of emergency powers and essentially outdated legislation has long been criticised. It is disappointing we are back once again reviewing provisions in an Act that should have been replaced a long time ago. I welcome the fact the Government belatedly have come round to Sinn Féin's long-held position that the offences against the State legislation needs to be overhauled.

Is maith an rud é go nglacann an Rialtas leis gur cóir an reachtaíocht seo atá as dáta a leasú. Iarraim ar an Aire an reachtaíocht nua a thabhairt chun cinn a luaithe agus is féidir. It is unfortunate it has been two years since the publication of the independent review of the Offences Against the State Act, chaired by Mr Justice Michael Peart, and all we have got to date from the Government is the statement from the Minister last month, repeated today, that he accepted, in principle, the findings of that review. The independent review group report published in 2023 that it recommended the Offences Against the State Act be abolished in its entirety with a majority recommending that a new non-jury court replaces the Special Criminal Court to try serious criminal offences for which a threshold has been reached. Sinn Féin has called for the proposals of this report to be implemented and for legislation to be brought forward without further delay. That is what our amendments to these motions stipulate. That the Offences against the State Acts are outdated at this point is undisputed. The emergency legislation should not be used on an ongoing basis. That is not in question at this stage. Nobody can argue the circumstances that gave rise to the introduction of this emergency legislation exist today. There is widespread agreement that we need a modern legal framework to effectively address organised crime and to properly protect jurors.

It is almost 90 years since the Offences Against the State Act was introduced. In that time, the use of the legislation has moved significantly from its original intention. These emergency powers legislation were expanded with the creation of the Special Criminal Court in 1972 and there was further expansion of the Act in 1998 following the Omagh bombing. The Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009 was enacted in July of that year to put in place certain additional legislative measures to tackle organised crime. The problem we have and the reason we still have in place legislation that was introduced at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War is that successive Governments have repeatedly dragged their feet on dealing with this issue despite widespread criticism of the continuation of the Offences Against the State Act. I want to be very clear that this should have been dealt with more than 25 years ago in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement specifically referenced the use of emergency legislation. It states the Irish Government will "initiate a wide-ranging review of the Offences against the State Acts [1939 to 1985] with a view to both reform and dispensing with those elements no longer required as circumstances permit". So, what happened? In the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement, the Hederman committee, chaired by former Supreme Court justice, Mr. Justice Anthony J. Hederman, conducted a review of the Offences against the State Acts. It published its report in 2002. Its recommendation included new legislation and the repeal of existing legislation. Those recommendations were never implemented. That is why many of us feel the Government has to be kept under pressure on this issue so the independent review does not end up gathering dust on a shelf in the justice Department in the same way.

As the Minister may know, Sinn Féin was the only party in the Dáil to make a submission to the independent review of the Offences Against the State Act. In that submission, we called for an end to the Offences Against the State Act, an end to emergency legislation and the replacement of the current Special Criminal Court with a new, non-jury, human rights-compliant system. It is essential such a system be human rights-compliant. The independent review group recommended the Offences Against the State Act be abolished in their entirety with a majority recommending a new non-jury court replace the Special Criminal Court to try serious criminal offences for which a threshold has been reached. Sinn Féin has, since then, called for the proposals of this report to be implemented and for legislation to be brought forward without further delay. We have argued for the legislation to stipulate the courts be provided with the power to decide on whether a non-jury trial should take place. I was very interested to hear Deputy Ward's commentary on that. Our position is distinct from the majority report in that view. I welcome Deputy Ward's support and look forward to him supporting any proposals in that regard.

It is worth recalling when the use of the Special Criminal Court was criticised at the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2001, central to those criticisms was the failure of Ireland to demonstrate the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions to certify that the applicant be tried by the Special Criminal Court was based on "reasonable and objective grounds". The UN committee also pointed to the fact the DPP was under no obligation to provide reasons for its decision. It is a wider problem. I heard what the previous speaker said about the independence of the DPP, which is crucial, but there is a question as to accountability mechanisms for the DPP, of which I do not see any.

Sinn Féin has argued the legislation to give affect to the independent review should also include a higher bar than what is recommended in the majority report for a non-jury trial. It is argued the legislation should include a requirement of evidence of real and present danger that jury tampering would take place. Protecting the right to a trial by jury expect in very exceptional circumstances has to be our objective. We have to try to ensure, where possible, a jury trial is provided. To protect that fundamental right we have to protect jurors. The potential for jury intimidation remains the main argument for non-jury courts, yet very little provision has been put in place to protect jurors.

In 2013, the Law Reform Commission recommended a number of steps that should be taken to give greater protection to juries. Unfortunately again, none of these have been implemented. Those proposals included: that the right of inspection of the jury panel, which may facilitate persons who wish to contact or identify jurors, should be restricted; where necessary, the abolition of the daily roll call of serving jurors in open court; and the creation of a single offence of jury tampering. In our submission to the independent review group, Sinn Féin called for the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission regarding the protection of jurors to be implemented and the practices of other jurisdictions to be examined with a view to adopting best practice in line with international standards to protect juries. The independent review group on the Offences Against the State Act has called for this to be done. There is no reason whatsoever for further delay in doing so.

This debate is not taking place in a vacuum. While robust legislation is required to deal with the threat of organised crime, the battle against such criminals starts in the communities and on the streets. The criminal justice system has to be adequately resourced and equipped to tackle organised crime. The ongoing failures in recruitment and retention within An Garda Síochána means there simply are not enough gardaí to fulfil import roles, including in community policing. There is a very specific problem with children and young people being groomed into crime by criminal gangs. Interventions to prevent young people being dragged into crime such as investing in communities, investing in diversion and putting enough community gardaí on our streets are all equally important. We also need to address wealth inequality, poverty and deprivation that create the conditions that leave communities vulnerable and that allow organised crime to thrive.

I am concerned the Government is not showing the type of intention and will to bring forward legislation for the overhaul of the Offences Against the State Act in the short term.

3 o’clock

The Minister's comments that we will most likely be back again here next year having the same debates, conversations and renewal of emergency legislation points to a lack of urgency and willingness to deal with something that should have been addressed immediately after the Good Friday Agreement. The documents laid before the House as part of the renewal process state that consideration will take some time and the Minister will return. There is a need for accountability and the Minister and the Government have to be held to account to ensure the recommendations are implemented without further delay. That is why our amendments have been tabled before the House and it is why I ask all TDs to support them.

See this speech in context