Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 19, line 35, after "section" to insert the following:

", and only where the Director of Public Prosecutions is contemplating the making of an application for a re-trial order under section 8 or section 9 of this Act.".

This arises out of Committee proceedings which did not include this amendment. In the debate on section 16, however, I stated that I would table it on Report Stage. I expressed concern about section 16 and the wide-ranging powers it appeared to give the Garda in terms of arresting an acquitted person, and I expressed concern about the potential for the Garda operating a fishing expedition, essentially seeking to obtain the new and compelling evidence required. There is a requirement that a superintendent or somebody of a rank superior to superintendent would apply to the court first, stating that he or she had information which was likely to reveal or confirm the existence of new and compelling evidence, but that is not a sufficient safeguard for the acquitted person. I would prefer to give the DPP a specific filtering role in respect of the operation of section 16.

What I have proposed is not to undermine section 16 altogether or to oppose the section as I did on Committee Stage because while the Minister explained fairly the purpose of section 16, there is still a requirement for an additional safeguard. I propose that there would be a safeguard in section 16(1) that a person could be arrested again in accordance with this section "only where the Director of Public Prosecutions is contemplating the making of an application for a re-trial order under section 8 or section 9 of this Act". In other words, I am giving a role to the DPP in the first instance in filtering this mechanism so that it cannot simply be a garda operating on his or her own behalf and that there must already be in contemplation by the DPP the making of an application for a retrial order. It seems that it is important to ensure against the sort of fishing expeditions about which I speak, and particularly because this section will allow an acquitted person to be arrested and then detained for up to 24 hours and questioned or interrogated during detention, even where he or she has already been tried and acquitted for a criminal offence.

It is a radical departure that section 16 proposes in terms of new powers for the Garda and I would ask the Minister to consider a safeguard of this nature to ensure the DPP will have a role in making a decision of some kind before the Garda can apply to the District Court for the permission to arrest and detain.