Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for what she said. I had intended to bring forward amendments on Report Stage to refine the scope of this section. Section 23 represents a radical departure in our prosecution appeal system. It is intended to capture the recommendations of the balance in the criminal law group that with prejudice prosecution and right of appeal against acquittals following trial on indictment should be permitted in certain circumstances.

The group recommended that the right should be available in the case of an erroneous ruling by a trial judge which resulted in a judge directing acquittal or weakened the prosecution case which was put to a jury. The report of review group emphasised that a jury acquittal, following receipt of all the admissible evidence, should be totally impregnable under the regime, as the Senator said. The group also recommended that a prejudice prosecution appeal should be available against a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal to quash an acquittal but not order a retrial.

I am concerned that section 23 does not capture with sufficient precision the recommendations of the review group and for this reason I intend to bring forward amendments on Report Stage which will seek to ensure the threshold for appeal is sufficiently high to protect jury decisions following receipt of all admissible evidence while at the same time not setting the bar so high that the section is inoperable.

While I appreciate the intention behind the Senator's amendment, I ask her to withdraw it because I am advised by the Parliamentary Counsel that the amendment as drafted does not require a sufficient link between the jury decision to acquit and the erroneous ruling by a judge. Having regard to the constitutional right to a jury trial, we must be careful when making provision for overturning a jury that a verdict, following receipt of all admissible evidence, is left untouched irrespective of whether it might be considered perverse. This point is not adequately captured in the section as currently worded which provides that the appeal will solely be on a question of law and does not require a link between such a question and the adverse effect on the jury's consideration of the evidence from the prosecution's perspective.