Human Rights in Ireland

While there are a number of interesting cases in the Irish courts at the moment (not least among them the (now settled) case of two young Kerry brothers, aged 14 and 8, seeking a High Court order against the GAA to allow them to play Gaelic football for Listry rather than Ballyhar-Firies) one which caught my eye was the High Court “missing evidence” decision reported in last Friday’s Irish Times. This was a decision of Kearns P. in the High Court refusing to prohibit the trial of the applicant who claimed that the absence of certain evidence would lead to a real risk of an unfair trial. The applicant, an articulated lorry driver, is charged with dangerous driving causing the death of another lorry driver on the M4 motorway in November 2008. He argued, before the High Court, that the gardaí had failed to preserve the two vehicles involved in the collision, that, accordingly, he could not have an engineer inspect the vehicles on his behalf, and that all of this led to a real risk of an unfair trial. Kearns P. held that the circumstances of the instant case were not such as to deem it one of the exceptional “missing evidence” cases which might justify the prohibition of the impending trial Read Full Post »

On the 26^th and 27^th of May 2011, Deauville in northern France will host a G8 summit. Among many other items for discussion the March earthquake in Japan, a long-standing member of the G8 (and the original G6), and the nuclear crisis which the quake precipitated are likely to be central. Prime Minister Naoto Kan is also planning, it seems, to make an announcement at the summit in relation to quite a different issue: accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This Convention, which was concluded in October 1980 and entered into force between signatory states in December 1983, essentially provides a mechanism whereby a child (under 16 years of age) abducted across international borders may be promptly returned to the country of his/her habitual residence. It provides no substantive rights, but insists that a court in which a Convention action is initiated should not enquire into the merits of any custody argument relating to the relevant child, but determine only in what jurisdiction such issues should be heard. The Convention requires the return of any child who was an habitual resident of a signatory state immediately before the abduction. It applies to both parental abduction (i.e. one parent removing the child from the jurisdiction without the consent of the other) and abduction by others. Read Full Post »

On Friday last, March 25th 2011, in ED v DPP the High Court ruled that section 12 of the Immigration Act 2004 was unconstitutional. Section 12 provided that non-national persons (other than those born in Ireland or under the age of 16) shall on the demand of an immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána, produce (a) a valid passport or other equivalent document, issued by or on behalf of an authority recognised by the Government, which establishes his or her identity and nationality, and (b) in case he or she is registered or deemed to be registered under the Act, his or her registration certificate. Failure to produce the required documentation without providing a satisfactory explanation of the circumstances which prevented the person from so doing was deemed an offence punishable by a fine of up to €3000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months or both.

While the judgment itself is as yet unavailable, the Irish Times reports that the finding of unconstitutionality by the High Court centred on the vagueness and uncertainty of the legislative provision, rather than on the concept of requiring the production of identification documents in and of itself. Read Full Post »

In a move which shows that our political parties are not always as opposed to ideas put forward by one another as one might think, the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, yesterday published the Criminal Justice (Community Service)(Amendment)(No.2) Bill 2011 which is almost identical to the lapsed Criminal Justice (Community Service)(Amendment)(No.2) Bill 2011 published by then Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, on January 12 2011. This Bill seeks to increase the usage of community service orders in place of short-term custodial sentences, a move which has long been advocated by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) and is included in the Programme for Government agreed between the two government parties (Fine Gael and Labour).

One significant distinction between this Bill and its January predecessor, however, is that the No.2 Bill requires a court to consider the imposition of a community service order where it would otherwise be of the opinion that a custodial sentence of anything up to 12 months would be appropriate in respect of the relevant offence, whereas the January Bill required such consideration only in relation to situations otherwise leading to imprisonment for up to 6 months. Read Full Post »

Today’s Irish Times reports that an Irishman and his wife (an EU citizen) have been granted leave to bring High Court proceedings in an effort to secure an Irish passport for their baby daughter who was born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement with a woman in Ukraine. Leave was granted by Peart J. in an ex parte application yesterday. The baby, who was born in January 2011, is not entitled to Ukrainian citizenship and can lawfully remain in the Ukraine for just 90 days. Without travel documentation, however, she cannot leave and the couple claim that she may be placed in an orphanage if they cannot get her out of Ukraine.

As reported by the Irish Times, the couple have initiated proceedings against the Minister for Foreign Affairs and they are seeking a court order compelling the Minister to issue an Irish passport or emergency travel documentation for their currently “stateless” baby. In the alternative, they seek orders directing the Minister to consider their application for travel documentation and to provide a reasoned decision on that. Furthermore, the couple want a declaration that any failure to answer their application speedily Read Full Post »

This week two new damning reports on Irish prisons were published: one by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment (CPT) and one by the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan. Both outlining serious human rights concerns within the prison system of this country. While the focus of the Ombudsman for Children’s report is on St Patrick’s Institution (which houses male offenders aged between 16 and 21), the Report of the CPT covers all places of detention in Ireland including prisons, garda stations and psychiatric institutions.

The CPT Report is based on a visit to Ireland carried out by members of the Committee between 25^th January and 5^th February 2010 and it contains details of appalling human rights issues in Irish prisons, including matters relating to prisoner healthcare, prisoner protection, and the investigation of complaints against staff.  Read Full Post »

The Irish Penal Reform Trust has drawn attention, by way of a press release, to certain legislative issues which are now in limbo given the dissolution of the 30^th Dáil and in need of urgent attention on the establishment of the 31^st Dáil. In particular, the IPRT has highlighted that while the Fines Act 2010 was signed into law by President Mary McAleese on 2 June 2010 a number of its most important sections have not been formally commenced. Chief among those is section 15 of the Fines Act 2010 which allows for persons owing court-ordered fines to pay them by instalment over a period of 1 year (or 2 years in certain circumstances). While section 14 of the Act, which insists that the courts take into account the individual’s personal financial circumstances when determining the amount of the relevant fine, if any, to be imposed, has been commenced, the IPRT claims that the failure to ensure full implementation of the Act is contributing to “soaring numbers” of persons continuing to be imprisoned for failure to pay fines. Read Full Post »

The Children’s Rights Alliance and Comhlámh are co-hosting a public discussion on child trafficking entitled “Child Trafficking – Whose Problem to Solve?” This forms part of the Children’s Rights Alliance’s work on The Body Shop‘s Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People campaign. The event will take place in Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, Grafton Street, Dublin 2 between 6.15pm and 7.45pm on Wednesday February 2, 2011.

Jillian van Turnhout, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, will chair the discussion. Guest speakers will include Muireann Ní Raghallaigh, Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Science, UCD and Albert Llussa, Solicitor who will use their expertise on immigration issues to debate the theme of the evening. This will be followed by an open Q&A session in which the audience is encouraged to get involved.

Tea and coffee will be provided and entrance is free. However, as space is limited admission for the public will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

The issue of reforming the political system is a live one at present and, as we look forward to a general election and the opportunities that it might bring, it is indeed important to consider the changes that might be made to our political system so as to increase its efficiency, its transparency, and its ability to properly represent the interests of the Irish people.

This post does not put forward any radical suggestions for change, but pleads, instead, for our future political representatives and legislators to consider two related basic points:

1. Legislation is not the answer to everything; and

2. Rushing through significant legislative proposals without appropriate time for discussion is both disrespectful to the political process and reckless in terms of their impact.

While my focus here is on the criminal justice system, most of what I have to say may equally apply to other parts of Irish society. Read Full Post »

On Friday last, December 17, another chapter of the terrible Irish history of clerical child sexual abuse was made public. Chapter 19 of the Report of the Murphy Commission (Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin) was held back from the original publication of the report in November of last year (read blog posts on the original publication here, here, here and here) due to ongoing legal proceedings against the central figure discussed therein, Fr. Tony Walsh. Those proceedings, relating to the sexual abuse of three boys from Ballyfermot in the late 1970s and early 1980s, concluded on December 6th, with Walsh being sentenced to 16 year’s imprisonment, with the final four suspended, for a conviction in one case and guilty pleas in the two other cases.

The Report describes Walsh, who is referred to throughout as “Fr. Jovito”, as the “most notorious child sexual abuser” to come to its attention, abusing children from his time as a seminarian at Clonliffe College, right on through his priesthood and even while he was appealing Rome’s decision to dismiss him from the priesthood. Both frighteningly and sadly, the Report states Read Full Post »