New powers to be used justly, says Garda chief

NEW GARDA powers to tackle organised crime will be implemented “proportionately”, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said yesterday.

The commissioner’s remarks came in response to mounting controversy over the terms of the new Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act.

Speaking at a Garda graduation ceremony in Templemore, Co Tipperary, the commissioner said the new legislation increased the powers of individual members of the force, but also subjected them to “proportionate accountability”.

Referring to the new Bills as having provoked “controversy”, he said the future of the force would lie in partnership with the community. He told the 271 newly-graduated gardaí and their families that the Garda would enforce the new legislation “with proportionality and the rule of law. Anybody who lives within the rule of law has nothing to be afraid of”.

He said gardaí should consider every suspect had the right to be treated “as you would like your parents to be treated”, and added that future reputation of the force was in their hands.

Thousands of people who may come into contact with gardaí will judge the individual garda and the force by that encounter and officers should consider this an opportunity to earn respect, he told graduates.

Speaking ahead of the same ceremony, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said there were people who were perpetrators of very serious crimes and we have to “rid our society of those people”.

Mr Ahern defended the criminal justice system from criticism that a high proportion of crimes appeared to be committed by perpetrators who were out on bail pending trial for other crimes.

Mr Ahern said he had been criticised for “recent non-seismic legislation” which had brought forward concerns about the human rights of suspects of crime.

Stressing that he didn’t want to talk about any individual case Mr Ahern said the issue of people committing offences while on bail “is a very serious one, we take it very seriously”. The Minister said the Government had changed the bail laws recently which had made it more difficult for people to get bail. “As I’ve said before if there are flaws, serious flaws, then obviously we will look at this again. Unfortunately I am being criticised in relation to the recent legislation and accused of abusing people’s human rights.”

He said bail laws and the Constitution were strict in relation to taking away a person’s liberty “and we have to be very careful in that respect”. But he said there were serious repeat offenders from which society had to be protected.

However, he said while the courts and the law were generally successful, it was not possible to say criminals re-offending while on bail “won’t happen again”.

According to figures from the Central Statistics Office there was a 500 per cent increase in the number of sexual offences carried out by suspects who were on bail, in the third quarter of 2008, compared to the first six months of that year. Three sexual attacks were carried out by suspects on bail in the first half of 2008, with a further 15 in the following three months. The figures also showed an average of eight murders a year by suspects on bail from 2004 to 2007.