Ireland's Justice System

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Friday March 16, 2007 21:06

by Kevin T. Walsh - Social Justice and Ethics

Brian Cowen once said that Bertie Ahern was man disinterested in material wealth; a Man of the People - a pint of Bass - and a chat with the Dublin people in relation to how the Dublin people are doing in the Championship.

The last Socialist, he called himself but now we all know, to the contrary of our lives and our civil liberties, that this is not the case.

Ahern now leaves behind him a legacy and that legacy is McDowell. Ahern gave McDowell free reign in Justice and Equality over the last 7 years, without reigning him in on the mistakes he made e.g. The Age of the Consent and the concern it has caused. It took some FF backbenchers to back McDowell off the Cafe bars and the casinos.

But something very sinister tonight alarms me. As Bertie flies back from Washington this evening, he may now be trying to distance himself from his Minister for Justice and retrieve his old anorak of times gone by.

Yes, I totally agree at the outrage throughout the week to Mr. Justice Kearney's decision to suspend a 3 year sentence to a man charged with rape of a young mother. I have a partner and 6 sisters so I feel an empathy to this woman who was raped.

But McMcDowell tonight is a very happy man to the outcome of Mr. Justice Kearney's decision in this case. It creates the smokescreen, while the Mad Mullah gets through his new Crime bill. Where now is Kenny, Sargent, Rabbite and Jim Higgins as we are being asked to accept this bill without question and in the absence of any public debate?

I would ask someone to explain the word Democracy.....?

I have just read the book Holy Thursday on John Carthy. I found the findings of Justice Barr fair and impartial but he criticised the Gardai in their approach and treatment of the very most vulnerable in our society. McDowell may 'junk' it off on his Paddy's day junket, when he has just dropped his Criminal Justice Bill 2007 en route. McDowell must have learnt something from T.S. Elliot in his poem 'The Hollow Men' who speculated that life on earth might not after all be terminated catastrophically by say, an asteroid or Bin Laden. Instead we might depart slowly, quietly and mournfully but sadly it will be in hindsight and sadly we will have paid a very high price.

McDowell is making the biggest miscalculation of his life but not to his own ego but to the freedom and civil rights of the Irish people and with a mandate of 2%. I ask Bertie of the Anorak and the apathetic people in Ireland - Why?
McDowell wants to make a big bang on gangland like the asteroid - its a big bang alright and here's hoping it is only a PR stunt to haul the PD's out of their morbid 2% rating before the General Election.

If the former Attorney General, and now Minister for Justice gets away with such far reaching legislation, through the Dail, before Easter, the effects on the civil and legal rights of the Irish people could be catastrophic. Tearing up the long established principles of Irish criminal law and some of the most fundamental rights of the Irish citizens of this State such as the constitutionally defined 'Right to Silence' is completely idiotic. I am sure the infamous President Mugabe from Zimbabwe would agree with me.

It is only last year the Government introduced the Criminal Justice Act 2006. It has not even been tested yet in the Courts of Law. The ink is barely dry on this Act and now we have the 2007 Act rushed in.

McDowell is a bully and make no mistake about that. He has a research group with close members of his family included reviewing Law for the past 3 years. Only 8 weeks ago, this group under enormous pressure from McDowell published an interim report on the 'Right to Silence' that carried a serious health warning. Led by PD supporter and Supreme Court Judge, in waiting, Gerard Hogan SC, a supporter and friend of Mc'Dowell. He noted the very severe time constraints that prevented that this new law coming through may have to be modified, in preparation for the final report.

I ask tonight, Bertie Ahern (the last socialist) - why have the people of Ireland not seen this report. We are dealing with a big bang here but from the opposition I only hear a whimper.

Yesterday, Sean Gillane SC, stated on Drivetime - that he is confused in relation to the criminal law in Ireland right now. That baffles me. He also stated that Professor Tom O'Malley who lectures in Galway University criticises the 2006 Act.

This Bill is a recipe for Disaster. We have had the Corruption from Donegal, we have had people wrongfully imprisoned, we have had two weeks ago another paedophile ring including a trainee Garda and last week a young man named O'Toole lost his life - there are some serious questions to be asked here shortly.

I will give you one example of this new Bill. A man walks into a shop and takes a book. He forgets to pay. He is stopped by security staff and the Gardai are phoned. This man can have a brain disorder, a lack of short term memory, like my partner and my nephew (who was involved in car crash a year ago). The Gardai can now hold a person for 6 days detention. More powers - but this is very deeply disturbing.

McDowell will enjoy the smokescreen tonight of Liveline all week while the Nation will have less Civil Liberties and Rights.

God Bless tonight the young Wheelock boy, John Carthy (Bipolar), the young Rossiter boy in Waterford and the young O'Toole man, last weekend. Last but not least Garda Tanya Corcoran and her young baby. God Bless them all.

My last line:
Civil Rights is a human right which no Government has the right to breech or take away especially McDowell with a 2% D4 mandate.

Quotation worth thinking about

'I am a disobedient person. I have never obeyed the customs of any society. I have never obeyed the laws of the State. Rejecting everything unmanageable, untenable - I have always followed my own momentum. Why? The answer lies in my feeling that this discriminatory treatment of vulnerable people in my society is unhuman'
Taslima Nasrin 1963 Bangladeshi Novelist and poet - who now lives in Exile.