THE chairman of the Bar Council, Mr James Nugent SC and the Irish Council of Civil Liberties spokesman, Michael Farrell, have predictably articulated the civil liberties "backlash" in the debate over our response to the rampant criminality which threatens to engulf the civil liberty we all should have to enjoy our lives free from threat of death or drug induced destruction.

Their murderers paid scant regard to the civil liberties of Veronica Guerin or Jerry McCabe when they pressed the triggers which brought an end to their lives.

Mr Nugent has failed to specify precisely what he meant by "wild ideas taking root" in the wake of the brutal murders of Veronica Guerin and Garda Jerry McCabe. However, other spokes people were not so reticent and, among the issues mentioned were the right to silence, bail, the seizure of the assets of criminals, the need for more prison places and gardai and the use of revenue powers by the gardai.

None of these matters are new and none are "wild ideas". In 1987, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors was the first organisation in the State to put forward the concept of the seizure of assets as a realistic measure which could be taken against drug barons.

The method, successfully used by other jurisdictions, is designed to make drug crime unattractive because the perpetrator would not be allowed to enjoy the fruits of his trade.

The association came up with the idea because of the great difficulty in obtaining convictions against the drug barons in the courts at least they could be tackled through their lack of explanation for an ostentatiously wealthy lifestyle often sustained with no visible income.

The other matters referred to above have been raised many times by Garda representatives, only to be ignored by the Government and the legislators and to be opposed every step of the way civil libertarians.

The right to silence debate has been misrepresented by the civil liberties lobby for many years. It has never been proposed to force people to talk to gardai or judges or anyone else what is proposed is that the courts will be enabled to draw conclusions from an otherwise unexplained silence, a facility which is already available under some statutes, notably the Offences Against the State Act.

It defies logic that notorious criminals can stare at a spot on the wall of a Garda interview room, refuse to answer even the most basic question and then have our courts remain in ignorance of that fact and unable to draw any conclusions from it.

The Garda Commissioner referred to this in an article in The Irish Times on September 19th, 1994, adding that the Director of Public Prosecutions had also raised this subject.

The Commissioner wrote. "Garda investigators, dealing with cunning, hardened, professional criminals, are somehow expected to establish the truth by first telling the parties concerned that they are not obliged to answer any questions or say anything...

He went on. "Is this a realistic procedure in this day and age of enlightenment?" It is quite clearly not a realistic procedure today and it is also obvious that the innocent haven nothing to fear from this proposal.

An even more serious aspect of this and all the other matters covered in this article is its contribution to the criminal's sense of immunity, of being above the law and his cumulative contempt for the system obeyed by the ordinary citizen.

The Law Reform Commission has said we currently enjoy one of the most liberal bail regimes in the civilised world most other jurisdictions permit restrictions on bail on the grounds of the greater good of society.

Our shortage of prison places is a continuing scandal, creating the ludicrous revolving door syndrome which, in turn, creates a perception among professional criminals that they are immune from justice.

All the Garda representative associations have been pointing out the serious decline in the numbers of gardai. Already we have one of the lowest police to people ratios in the developed world, with one of the smallest civilian back up support sections, and this is getting worse.

At about 10,700, the force is 700 down on its established strength of 11,400 and the decline continues. Even though the Government is now, belatedly, announcing additional recruitment, those extra gardai will not be available on the streets for at least two years.

The Revenue Commissioners have the power to question persons about their assets and how they were obtained. There is no right to silence on the part of those questioned even the most hard pressed PAYE taxpayer must answer up. This is the power which could be effective against criminals if utilised with the support of the gardai.

ADDED to all of the above is our medieval system of criminal identification where a witness no matter what age or sex is required to pick out a suspect from a line up and place a hand on a shoulder. Unarmed, defenceless civilians are required to come eyeball to eyeball with ruthless thugs who hold no value on human life.

We have a defence orientated criminal justice system.

The right to silence benefits criminals the ludicrous bail situation which exists in no other civilised, country benefits criminals the shortage of prison places and the consequent temporary release situation benefits criminals the failure to tackle the assets of drug barons benefits criminals our anticipated identification system benefits criminals.

As to Mr Nugent's suggestion of a commission to examine the criminal justice system Garda representative bodies have been making the same call for the last 15 years. Since the Kerry babies, we have had the Garda Complaints Act and a tightening of internal disciplinary procedures.

Surely, it is not beyond the ingenuity off the legislators and the legal experts to devise safeguards so that what is being proposed is not abused in the future. If in the future these measures are found not to be needed or to be counter productive, they can be removed.

Not one issue raised currently is a knee jerk reaction. All have been made and argued forcibly for many years and many are matters of pure common sense. Society must now take up the challenge thrown down by the gunmen so that the sacrifice of Veronica Guerin and Jerry McCabe is not in vain.