Law Society president wants clarification

THE new president of the Law Society, Mr Frank Daly, has called on the Government to clarify several "grey areas" in proposed constitutional changes on the bail laws.

Mr Daly said the society was concerned about the Government's wide definition of what was a "serious offence", on the basis of which people could be refused bail.

He said "the Government defines serious offence as any crime carrying a possible prison sentence of five years or more".

But these days, he added, "even the most minor offence carries a possible five year sentence, so the Government's definition may be much more wide ranging than the public may have expected".

Mr Daly also queried the basis on which bail could be refused by the courts, and what evidence of reoffending would be admissible.

"Where will the burden of proof lie? Will it beyond reasonable doubt, as in criminal cases, on the balance of probabilities, as in civil cases, or will there be a presumption in favour of prosecution evidence?" he said.

The Government also needed to indicate whether the opinion of a garda would be admissible, "as is the case in the Special Criminal Court and, if so, whether the garda would be required to reveal the information on which he/she is basing the opinion.

He urged the Government to segregate remand prisoners and convicted prisoners "in line with Ireland's obligations under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights".

He said that because of chronic overcrowding in prisons "we do not properly comply with the UN Covenant at the moment anyway". He called on the Government to postpone implementing the constitutional amendment "until it had built a new remand centre".

He also described as farcical the fact that of the 189 people on bail in the Dublin Circuit Court area who had not turned up for trial, just one had had bail forfeited.