Rights group opposes more Garda powers

Oireachtas committee: The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has recommended against granting wide-ranging powers to gardaí, including the authority to grant search warrants, in the new Criminal Justice Bill.

The Government had not made an adequate case for major changes to the Bill, particularly in the areas of warrants, detention periods, taking non-intimate samples and dealing with non-compliant witnesses, the IHRC told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.

The Bill, currently before the Dáil, would confer extensive new powers on the Garda. One major proposal is to give gardaí of superintendent rank and above the power to grant search warrants if a judge is not available.

"This would be a huge crossing of the threshold," IHRC member Prof William Binchy told the Justice Committee. "We do not believe the case has been made out for this change. There is a need for independent judicial scrutiny."

The IHRC was not suggesting the Garda would abuse the power to grant warrants, Prof Binchy said, but he was concerned that it would create a "culture change" and the degree of sensitivity brought to the process by a judge would be lost.

There were difficulties in terms of the availability of judges, he admitted, but this could be dealt with by allowing for new technologies, such as e-mail, to be used in processing warrants.

The IHRC was also recommending against allowing the period of detention to be extended from 12 to 24 hours for all arrestable offences.

Having a "blanket" extension would mean that those arrested for minor offences could be held for 24 hours. Vulnerable people intimidated by the situation may make a confession to get out of the situation, he said. "This raises the question of the freedom of such a confession."

The danger of human rights violations was a particular issue in taking "non-intimate" body samples. A nurse should be present if any swabs are taken and "general restraint" should be shown, particularly where the subject does not wish to give a sample, he said.