Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

Perhaps I could comment on the general maintenance of the Special Criminal Court and the idea of maintaining trials without juries. It is ironic that we talked last month about the counselling notes issue and the Minister said it would be unconstitutional because of the pressing right to a fair trial in our Constitution, yet we can have non-jury trials. How does he match that up? Rape victims can have their therapy notes, including their private thoughts, taken by the defence because of the right to a fair trial allegedly, yet we can maintain the Special Criminal Court. It does not stack up. I wanted to make that point. There is no need to maintain the Special Criminal Court. We now have technology and many other means of protecting juries should there be a need to do so. We do not have terrorism. The justification that there was for the Special Criminal Court in previous decades is long gone. It is completely undemocratic to maintain the court.

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