New Justice Minister Michael McDowell would like a crackdown on asylum requests and the gradual end of the Special Criminal Court, he tells Carol Coulter
The new Minister for Justice would like to see the gradual phasing out of the Special Criminal Court and the maximisation of jury trials in criminal cases.
He is also determined to press ahead with legal reforms aimed at cutting court costs, the reform of the libel laws and the relaxation of the in-camera rule in family law cases.
Mr McDowell told The Irish Times yesterday that he would bring the report of the Committee on the Offences Against the State Act to Government very soon, seeking its early publication. "I see no reason for leaving it on a shelf, especially as most of it is already in the public domain."
Asked to comment on the report, in which the chairman, Mr Justice Hederman, and a minority put forward different views to those of the majority, he said that his own views lay between the two. "Ideally, I would like to see the Special Criminal Court phased out, when circumstances permit, and jury trials maximised. We should reassess the protection of juries and ways of making juries as efficient as possible. I am also totally against the abolition of juries in complex fraud cases. Instead, I intend to talk to the judiciary about ways to help juries, by giving them audio-visual aids and summaries of the evidence. Juries remain as the bedrock of our criminal justice system."
Asked what he would do about other questions dealt with in the report, he said that he had come to no conclusions. "I will bring it soon to Government for publication. There will be a debate, and then there will be conclusions."
The witness protection programme, where witnesses to serious crimes, sometimes themselves accomplices, are protected in return for giving evidence, received a blow recently when Paul Ward won his appeal against conviction for the murder of Veronica Guerin. What will happen to the witness protection programme now that its flaws have been revealed?
"What you do with flaws is remedy them. I am committed to maintaining the witness protection programme and I have operated it. But I won't be putting it on a statutory basis."
European Arrest Warrant
During the last Government, when Mr McDowell was Attorney General, he was known to be unhappy with aspects of the European Arrest Warrant, which allows for the automatic extradition of those wanted for a crime committed in another EU state.
"The whole process that gave rise to it was unsatisfactory. Ireland was not consulted. It was rushed through after September 11th. The framework decision has now been adopted and each country has until the end of 2003 to implement it. There are very significant changes in it, which Ireland insisted on.
"There will be no ATM machine for extradition! It is now built into it that the constitutional rights of people will not be affected. We made a declaration that there would be no extradition for investigation, solely for trial. Our legislation will put in place a mechanism to give reality to this."
He emphasised that the Government was opposed to a common European criminal justice system. "The Irish Government has consistently signalled its opposition to the corpus juris project [a common European criminal justice system, with a European prosecutor]. That's a non-runner."
However, he stressed that this is in the context of a positive, pro-European view. "We are saying we can be trusted to look after the interests of the Irish people on European issues. We are not in favour of an overly ambitious federalist view of Europe."
European Convention on Human Rights
Central to his view of our relations with European and international legal institutions is his conviction of the superiority, in general, of the Irish Constitution and the protection afforded to Irish citizens. "The guarantees that accused people in Ireland have are the best in the world," he said.
Therefore, he has consistently opposed the affording of constitutional status to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Bill, on its incorporation into Irish law at a level which only required it to be taken account of, lapsed with the end of the last Government, and the President of the Human Rights Commission, Mr Justice Donal Barrington, appealed for the introduction of a new Bill.
This will not happen, the Minister said. It will be introduced as it was.
Transsexuals
The court which implements this convention is the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and this found against Ireland in cases involving the rights of homosexuals and abortion information. It may do so soon on the rights of transsexuals, in the light of the refusal of the High Court earlier this week to amend the birth certificate of an Irish transsexual, Dr Lydia Foy, and the decision two days later of the Strasbourg court to give such recognition to a British transsexual.
Will the Irish Government legislate to give recognition to transsexuals in the light of the Strasbourg judgment?
"I would hope the State would anticipate a court case rather than respond to it," said the Minister.
Reform of Libel Laws
The Programme for Government also promised reform of the libel laws, along with a statutory Press Council. The National Newspapers of Ireland have expressed concern about a statutory council, preferring self-regulation.
"There will be protection for journalists who make bona fide mistakes. But the Government is concerned that the liberalisation of the libel laws is balanced with adequate safeguards. Why is self-regulation right here and wrong everywhere else?
"It will all have to be thought out very, very carefully. For example, could you say that the political affairs privilege defence [where it would be a defence that public and political affairs were involved] would only be available to publications that sign up to a code stating they would retract a statement if it was wrong? How far do you go in protecting privacy? It's all a clean slate as far as the Government is concerned."
Family Law
The issue of privacy also arises in relation to the reporting of family law. The Government is committed to a relaxation of the in camera rule in family law cases, to provide for the scrutiny of family law by interested parties. Does that include the media? "That is to be discussed," he said.
The Minister agreed that there was a need for further reform of the family law system. Asked if there should be compulsory mediation on matters impinging on the welfare of children, he said that in his experience of family law nothing was ever agreed until everything was agreed.
The key to solving a lot of the problems in this area was case management, he said.
Legal Costs
This also applies to other areas of litigation. Mr McDowell is determined to reduce court costs by mandatory mediation in personal injuries cases, combined with case management. There will be punishment for perjury, including for lawyers who assist in it, he pledged, and those who make fraudulent claims can expect to be severely dealt with.
He also wants to discuss with the judiciary ways of reducing the time spent on opening cases and presenting evidence. "We have to have a minimising and an avoidance policy."
Judicial Ethics
He is equally determined to introduce legislation on judicial ethics. The last move on this fell when the Government failed to get all-party support for a constitutional amendment. He considers a constitutional amendment unnecessary and will proceed on a statutory basis. "As AG, I was on a committee with judges on this, and it drafted a Bill. I'm asking them to send it to me."
That provided for some, limited, lay representation on a judicial ethics committee.
Mr McDowell envisages a system of sanctions that would start with guidance, go through censure and reprimand, and end up with a report to the Oireachtas that could lead to impeachment of judges found to have breached ethical guidelines.
Immigration and Asylum
The new Minister for Justice will be tough on those unable to present convincing cases for asylum. "Eighty per cent of foreigners living in Ireland have nothing to do with asylum. We have to approach it on a rational basis. We have to have an immigration policy which is fair and free from wrongful discrimination against any particular group.
"The asylum-seeking process costs about €200 million annually, and between 80 and 90 per cent are found not be eligible, by a system that the UN upholds."
He also strongly defended the dispersal system. "A disappointingly large number of people abandon their applications when a dispersal decision comes. If they disappear, it is a strong indicator they are not bona fide in the first place."
He dismissed criticisms of both the intitial applications system and the dispersal system by recent independent studies. "We're in the top three European countries for applicants per capita. We can't be that unfair if that is happening."