Trevor Sargent
Ceist:93 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Justice if she has satisfied herself that six hours is a sufficient period for a suspect to be held under the Criminal Justice Act before being released from a Garda station. [8296/95]
Written Answers. - Holding of Suspects.
Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 empowers the Garda Síochána to detain, for up to six hours, a person arrested without warrant on suspicion of having committed an offence carrying a penalty of at least five years imprisonment for the purpose of investigating the offence. A Garda officer not below the rank of superintendent may direct that a person detained under section 4 of the 1984 Act be detained for a further period not exceeding a maximum of six hours if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that such further detention is necessary for the proper investigation of the offence.
As the Deputy will be aware, persons who are arrested under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939 can be detained by the Garda for a period of 24 hours which may be extended to 48 hours under certain conditions.
I am keeping the relevant statutory provisions under review and any legislative proposals I may bring forward in this area will be announced in the usual way in due course.