I move amendment No. 1:
In page 4, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following new subsection:
"(3) A person, other than a person referred to in subsection (1) or (2), who carries out an act of torture on another person, whether within or outside the State, shall be guilty of the offence of torture, but shall be liable to be prosecuted in the State if that person or the victim of the offence is an Irish national or if that person subsequently enters the State or if the offence was committed in or has any other substantial connection with the State.".
The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment sets a minimum standard and it is welcome that we are meeting it. However, Article 1.2 states: "This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application". Nothing in the convention prevents us from putting together a view on torture which is wider in application than that of the European convention.
The purpose of the amendment is to extend the provisions of the convention as it applies in this State beyond what are described in the Bill as a "public official" or a person who carries out an act of torture "at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public official". We are seeking to make torture by anybody, as defined under the convention, an offence in this State. We were careful when wording the amendment not to extend it too far. It states:
A person . . . . who carries out an act of torture on another person, whether within or outside the State, shall be guilty of the offence of torture, but shall be liable to be prosecuted in the State if that person or the victim of the offence is an Irish national or if that person subsequently enters the State or if the offence was committed in or has any other substantial connection with the State.
We are concerned about the horrendously large international organisations in the drug business, the equally obnoxious armaments business and those involved in terrorism and punishment beatings. It is a peculiar exception to confine strictures on something as revolting to all civilised people as torture and to suggest that we cannot make torture by anybody, particularly by criminal gangs, an offence to be tried in this civilised State where we do not have the death penalty. Why should a Colombian drug cartel, the Russian Mafia or an Irish criminal gang in this city which sells drugs to young people and inflicts pain as the offence is defined in this Bill, not be guilty of the same offence? Our amendment seeks to extend the offence to anybody who commits an identical offence and not to confine it to public officials.