Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate her on her recent ministerial elevation. I wish her good luck in this difficult brief and hope she will have a successful tenure. It is a proud indication of the Seanad and those who have served here that she was the former Opposition leader in this House. It bodes well for those who serve here that there is a future after Seanad Éireann.

Fianna Fáil supports this Bill which is an important part of creating a strong framework to protect ordinary citizens from re-offending criminals. An effective DNA database forms a critical facet of the modern toolkit for police forces in tackling serious crime. This legislation builds on the earlier Bill laid out by the former Minister, Dermot Ahern, in 2010. I also want to acknowledge the significant work done by the Minister’s predecessor, Deputy Alan Shatter. Those proposals drew from the work of the Law Reform Commission and input from various stakeholders, notably the Human Rights Commission. The proper use of DNA evidence will help identify culprits but will also assist in confirming the innocence of suspects. DNA evidence will help to exonerate those accused or indeed convicted in the wrong.

This Bill amends the law to authorise the taking of bodily samples from persons suspected of certain criminal offences for forensic testing. It also contains provisions to provide for the taking of certain bodily samples from persons who volunteer to have such samples taken from them for the purpose of the investigation of offences or incidents that may have involved the commission of offences. It will provide for the establishment and operation by Forensic Science Ireland of the Department of Justice and Equality of a DNA database system. It will provide for the taking of certain bodily samples from persons suspected or convicted of certain criminal offences for the purpose of generating DNA profiles in respect of those persons to be entered in the investigation division of the DNA database system. It also provides for the taking of certain bodily samples from certain persons for elimination purposes, as well as providing, in certain circumstances, for the destruction of samples taken under this Act and the destruction, or removal from the DNA database system, of any DNA profiles generated from those samples and to repeal the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence) Act 1990.

Laws mean little if there are not the resources to back them up. Fundamentally for this Bill to be implemented in full, it will have to be fully resourced. A poorly resourced and demoralised Garda force will not uphold the law of the land regardless of what databases are available to it. We are well aware of the current low morale in the Garda. I hope the Minister will make it a priority to restore it as well as people's trust in the force. The Minister stated she has adequately prepared the Forensic Science Laboratory for the creation of the DNA database and that it has been allocated substantial resources, as well as the capability to adequately deal with the new database.

It is vital that the laboratory be provided with ongoing support and assistance as the level and scope of the work develops and extends with the new database. If the legislation is in place and there are insufficient resources to operate it on the ground, it will be shackled, despite the significant effort that has gone into this very important Bill.
The creation of a DNA database touches on a number of delicate human rights issues. In the seminal Ryan v.Attorney General judgment of 1965, the Supreme Court found that the right to bodily integrity was among the unenumerated rights in the Constitution, and this significant judgment must be respected. The right to privacy is an internationally recognised human right and is another unenumerated personal right in our Constitution. Therefore, the Bill must tread carefully to respect and uphold the high standards of human rights which we have set ourselves. We must also be cognisant of our responsibilities to the standards set by EU directives on this matter.
In broad terms, the Bill has set a fair balance between the demands of constitutional necessity and the needs of confronting criminality. The time limit on keeping information and restrictions on extracting information from volunteers are adequate safeguards. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has raised specific concerns on the international exchange of DNA information. It is imperative that we maintain public trust in the new system and the human rights standards we have raised for ourselves. Therefore, it is critically important that we ensure other states with which we exchange information are held up to the same standards we set for ourselves. We cannot allow such highly sensitive information to be exposed and to reduce standards that undermine our efforts to protect the data involved.
This substantial Bill is a significant milestone in criminal justice legislation which I broadly welcome and which I demanded many years ago. From reading the explanatory memorandum, I feel that, by and large, the right balance has been struck, although time will tell. This side of the House welcomes it. The issues I have raised are primarily concerned with resourcing, the unenumerated constitutional rights established in the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Ryan v.Attorney General, and the need to ensure international best practice is maintained when we exchange database information. Hopefully, it will be a further tool for the State, the Garda Síochána and international bodies to combat crime. Given that crime has become very sophisticated and criminals sometimes seem to be one step ahead of us, we need such legislation to ensure we have a very modern, scientific database to fight crime, particularly organised crime. It is a great Bill, by and large, and I wish the Minister success with it. Subject to some amendments we may table, I wish it a successful passage through the House.