Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I join with others in complimenting the Minister and his officials on introducing the Bill and guiding it through this House. The Bill's purpose is to ensure compliance with many obligations and decisions made at EU level. This reflects the growing influence of the EU on domestic legislation, a scenario with which I have no difficulty because it is a positive development.

The issues raised by Senator Tuffy are interesting. Obviously, we must be conscious of people's rights and be particularly vigilant to avoid miscarriages of justice. However, all too often, serious criminals use general rights to avoid detection and prosecution. We should be conscious that this impinges to a large extent on other people's rights.

Many well-known criminals are at large. In the fight against crime, which, as the Minister of State rightly noted, does not recognise national boundaries, it behoves all states to co-operate with each other to put systems in place that can adequately ensure that the rule of law is applied across the board. It is important to balance the rights of culprits with the rights of victims. I do not see evidence of this in much of the operation of the criminal justice system, a state of affairs of which both Houses should be conscious. My comments are perhaps a counterpoint to Senator Tuffy's comments.

I am aware that our system is predicated on ensuring that serious miscarriages of justice, like those which pertained to crimes of a political nature witnessed in the neighbouring jurisdiction, do not take place and that innocent people are not incarcerated. However, well-known criminals who are amassing fortunes are at large and it is often the less important criminals who end up in prison. This illustrates the flaws in our system. This Bill is a component of an overall framework which is needed to redress this balance.