TD slams new repressive laws
We carry here an edited version of Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O
Caoláin's speech in Leinster House on the Offences Against the
State (Amendment) Act 1998.
The measures before us today run contrary to the spirit and the
letter of the Good Friday Agreement. One of the main reasons for
nationalist and republican support for the Agreement is the
centrality within it of human rights and civil liberties. Those
central elements of the Agreement are being undermined as drastic
measures are rushed through the Oireachtas, and through the
British Houses of Parliament.
In the Agreement the Irish government committed itself to a
``widespread review'' of repressive legislation and to ``take steps
to further strengthen the protection of human rights in its
jurisdiction''. The measures before us today are backward steps.
In advancing this Act the Irish Government has facilitated and
encouraged the British government in the passage of legislation
in Westminster which will be even more draconian in its effects.
The RUC is a discredited force which enjoys no allegiance among
the nationalist community in the Six Counties. It has been
censured by a succession of human rights authorities up to and
including the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Into the
hands of this force is to be placed the power to imprison people
on the basis of the word of senior officers. And this potentially
disastrous development has come because the British government
are modelling their laws on those to be passed in this House.
More than one member of this House has taken a special interest
in the case of Elaine Moore. This legislation and the British
legislation opens the way for many more such cases.
This Offences Against the State Act of 1998 reinforces
legislation which was already repugnant to civil liberties. The
Offences Against the State Acts 1939 to 1985 have been widely
abused. The powers they give to the gardai have helped to turn
the Garda Special Branch into a political police force which has
systematically harassed citizens engaged in open, legal and
democratic political activity, including this Deputy, and
citizens with no political involvement of any kind.
This needs to be borne in mind when we hear guarantees that these
strengthened draconian powers will be used selectively.
With one stroke Section 2 of this Bill attacks the right to
silence and reinforces the provision for the conviction of a
person for membership of an unlawful organisation on the basis of
the opinion of a senior garda. The exercise of the right to
silence can now be used to corroborate the word of the garda. The
exercise of the right to silence can mean that the court can draw
inferences from failure to mention any fact later relied on by
the defence. In effect the right to silence is removed.
Section 4 of the Bill is surely one of the most drastic pieces of
legislation ever brought before the Dáil. It widens the
definition of conduct giving rise to suspicion of membership to
include association.
This is guilt by association. What use will be made of this
provision in the days to come after the passage of this Bill? Are
people to be arrested and charged on the basis of their
friendship or acquaintance with others?
A person may be convicted on the dubious basis of the
uncorroborated word of a garda and then the `association' of
others with him or her will cause a ripple effect of new
convictions. Another effect may be the unwillingness of people to
come forward as alibi witnesses for fear they may be charged
under this provision.
The provision for the confiscation of property has been described
by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties as ``an extraordinary
departure from the existing law and seems almost like a form of
reprisal''. Like other sections of this Bill it seems highly
likely that it will be constitutionally challenged and may well
be struck down.
One of the most worrying aspects of this Bill is its creation of
British-style conspiracy laws. These are vaguely defined
catch-all offences. The most serious is modelled on a British law
and is the offence of ``directing at any level'' the activities of
an unlawful organisation.
For this nebulous offence, which seems designed to convict people
against whom no substantive evidence exists, the penalty is life
imprisonment.
Similarly vague is the offence of possessing ``any article'' which
could give rise to ``reasonable suspicion'' that the article is to
be used for offences under various Acts mainly to do with
explosives. Are fertiliser bags and shovels now to be used to
secure convictions? The offence of ``withholding information'' is
also vague as is the offence of collecting, recording or
possessing information. These conspiracy laws open up whole new
avenues of possible abuse.
The extension of the period of detention for questioning to three
days, when taken with the provisions regarding the right to
silence, create a scenario where innocent people could be wrongly
convicted. Detained in a Garda station for three days the suspect
is allowed access to a solicitor but not during interrogation.
The person's silence will be legally admissable. So will their
failure to mention to the gardai a fact which they later rely on
during their trial. With no legal requirement for interviews to
be video and audio-taped, and in the absence of a solicitor, it
will be almost impossible to prove that a person did in fact
answer relevant questions. It is easy to see how innocent people,
confused and pressurised in an alien environment, and unsure of
their rights, could implicate themselves. The danger of this
occurring in the present climate is especially acute.
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