The Cabinet has approved the provisions of a Bill which would extend the restriction on a suspect's right to silence, increase Garda powers of arrest and lengthen detention periods for serious criminal offences.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, announced the new measures yesterday, after a graduation ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
He said the Bill would take account of the rights of the individual while ensuring that gardai were "given the basic tools to investigate serious crime".
He is also proposing to reclassify saliva from an "intimate sample" along with blood, semen and urine, to a non-intimate sample which could be used in DNA testing. The establishment of a DNA database was being examined, he said.The qualification of the right to silence would apply to more serious crimes which carry jail terms of 10 years or more. The current qualification is limited to drugs-related offences and offences against the State.
The proposals also include provision for a senior garda to issue a search warrant "in exceptional circumstances".
A plan to introduce video recording equipment at 200 Garda stations for use during questioning would counterbalance any fears there might be of the individual's rights being infringed, he said. The equipment is to be installed next year. Suspects would be entitled to access to their recordings before trial.
A new power of detention of up to 48 hours, to be authorised by a District Court judge, would apply for serious offences attracting penalties of 10 years' imprisonment or more. It would replace the current 12-hour limit.
The detention period may be suspended and resumed again if gardai need to make inquiries.
He said this was an important provision for criminal investigations. "It gives the guards the opportunity to look at what they have been told," Mr O'Donoghue said.
Gardai will also be given a statutory power to preserve a crime scene for 12-hour periods up to a total of 96 hours. He stressed that the additional powers in the Bill were for serious offences such as murder and serious sexual assaults.
Mr O'Donoghue said the Bill would follow recommendations made by two expert groups on Garda efficiency and law reform, including one chaired by Mr Eamon Leahy SC.
The proposals are likely to come under scrutiny when they are published in a Bill.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties expressed grave concern yesterday at the package.
Its director, Mr Donncha O'Connell, said the proposal to extend detention periods would increase the likelihood of abuses of persons in custody and of oppressive techniques being used to extract confessions from suspects. He warned that the proposal to extend the category of offences where the right to silence will be restricted was probably contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Michael Finucane, a solicitor with Garret Sheehan and Co which specialises in criminal law, said the proposal to allow gardai to issue search warrants "in exceptional circumstances" flew in the face of the concept that one could not be the judge and executioner in one's own case. He said "exceptional circumstances", which were unlikely to be defined in the legislation, could include not being able to find a judge.
He added that this was an extraordinary measure and he did not know of any police force in the world which could issue search warrants for itself.
Referring to the proposal to extend from 12 to 48 hours the period during which a person can be detained for questioning, he said a solicitor could not be present. "Combined with limitations on the right to silence, this is tending to create a machine for convictions."
He was also concerned about the proposal to classify saliva as a non-intimate sample, saying this might run up against the constitutional guarantee of bodily integrity.