Vol. 504 No. 2
40 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the plans, if any, he has to implement in full the recent recommendations on changes in the criminal law arising from the SMI report on the Garda; the further plans, if any, he has to provide any additional protections for people in custody if the Garda are given the additional powers recommended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11548/99]
Last year I appointed an expert group under the distinguished chairmanship of Mr. Eamon Leahy, SC, to consider changes in the criminal law recommended in the report of the Steering Group on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Garda Síochána, with particular reference to the Constitutional and European Convention on Human Rights implications and having regard to the critical balance referred to in the report between the rights of the individual and that of the common good.
The group's report was submitted to me last July, noted by the Government last November and subsequently made publicly available. The report is being examined in my Department at present with a view to submitting proposals to Government.
I can assure the House that any proposals which are brought forward will take fully into account the question of appropriate safeguards. Indeed at the conclusion of the report the group indicated that they were conscious of the need to balance additional powers with appropriate safeguards and their recommendations, individually and in their totality, were designed to respect this. Nevertheless they recommended consideration be given to further safeguards including the video recording of interviews in Garda custody. In this context I can inform the House that on 27 April last I received an interim report from the Steering Committee on Audio and Audio-Video Recording of Garda Questioning of Detained Persons in which substantive recommendations are made in relation to a national scheme of electronic recording.
In addition, while the operation of the Garda Complaints Procedure was outside the remit of the Leahy group, I have already informed the House that I have under consideration the recently published third report of the Garda Síochána Complaints Board which makes a number of recommendations for legislative and procedural change to enhance the board's effectiveness.
In all the circumstances I envisage that the proposals contained in the Leahy report, the steering group report and the complaints board report will be examined in parallel particularly in the context of ensuring that any proposed changes in the criminal law will be accompanied by appropriate safeguards. Obviously in advance of finalisation of that process I cannot give the House details of the precise approach which the Government will take to these matters.
