Sir, - I refer to the editorial entitled "Progress on Crime", in your newspaper on October 22nd. You stated that the apparent progress of the Garda investigation into serious crime in Dublin prompts many to ask what work was done before the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
It is certainly true to say that absolutely nothing was done by the Minister for Justice and the Rainbow Coalition Government, during a period when organised criminals were becoming more audacious and vicious. You correctly pointed out that the State's approach to criminal justice issues was still reactive and geared to that which was immediate, visible and tangible.
You concluded, and I quote, "virtually everything that has been done up to now is fire fighting". Whilst this is certainly true of the Government's performance, Fianna Fail's constructive role in Opposition on the issue of crime can neither be ignored nor dismissed lightly.
Sine January 1995, Fianna Fail has filled the Government's legislative vacuum with no less than 10 different pieces of legislation in the criminal justice area. These included the Criminal Procedure Bill 1995, the Criminal Law (Bail) Bill, 1995, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution (No 1) Bill, 1995, the Sexual Offences (Jurisdiction) Bill, 1995, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (No 2) Bill, 1995, the Proceeds of Crime Bill, 1995, the Victim Support Bill, 1995, the Misuse of Drugs Bill, 1996, the Criminal Law (Mental Disorder) Bill, 1996, and the Organised Crime (Restraint and Disposal of Illicit Assets) Bill, 1996.
The Rainbow Coalition Government has unashamedly lifted, or accepted, all or part of many of these pieces of legislation and tried to present them as its own. The Minister for Justice lifted the essential provisions of our Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (No 2) Bill, 1995 in the Seanad, having failed with her own draft Bill to ensure that the details of evidence in incest cases could again be published. The Government's Drug Trafficking Act, 1996, is a poorly watered down version of Part 1 of Fianna Fail's Misuse of Drugs Bill, 1996.
Fianna Fail's Sexual Offences (Jurisdiction) Bill of 1995, was moved in Private Members' time and accepted by the Government. It provides that a person may be tried in this jurisdiction for a paedophile offence committed abroad.
The central plank of Minister Owen's package of anti crime measures, which you say was moved forward by her with vigour, is in fact Fianna Fail's Organised Crime (Restraint and Disposal of Illicit Assets) Bill, 1996. This Bill, which provides for the freezing and seizure of the proceeds of crime, was the first Private Members' Bill in the history of the State to be accepted by a Government in its own Dail time and is now known as the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996.
The Government voted down Fianna Fail's Criminal Law (Bail) Bill, 1995, which would have placed certain restrictions on those granted bail. The Minister for Justice at the time said that an amendment to the Constitution was required. Whilst we took the time to explain that our legislation was intended to place restrictions on those granted bail, we then gave the Government the option of a referendum. We asked the Dail to pass through a Bill which would have given the Irish people the opportunity of deciding whether a court should be given the power to refuse bail, if the court was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the accused, if admitted to bail, would be likely to commit a further offence which is also indictable.
Again, the Government voted down this legislation. It is rather ironic that it is now in favour of measures it voted down last year. A tired public has grown weary of Minister Owen's promises to put in place measures which would help us to deal comprehensively with crime. It has grown cynical of an administration which has been hopelessly divided on measures to tackle it over the past two years. When issues such as bail arise, Messrs Spring and De Rossa invoke the right to silence. In that respect, and in fairness to Minister Owen, it is these Trappist Monks of the Rainbow who have most to answer for. Yours, etc.,
Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Justice,
Dail Eireann.