Let"s not rush important crime legislation

It is a reasonable assumption that most right-thinking people in this country would wholeheartedly agree with Steve Collins, the father of murder victim Roy Collins in Limerick, when he ventured the opinion last week that ordinary, decent people have nothing to fear from the Government"s new Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill. The only people who need to be worried about it are the criminal gangs. The Govt"s new anti-gangland measures are expected to be passed into legislation by the end of this month, but they are proving to be controversial. Changes that have been introduced into the Bill include allowing any Garda officer with sufficient knowledge of a suspect to give an opinion that this person is a member of a gang, and this evidence could be enough to see this person jailed. Previously, a Garda chief superintendent would have to have given this opinion to a court. The new laws follow on from the new Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill which allows covert surveillance methods to be used by Gardai to gather evidence against gangs. All of this evidence will then, crucially, be admissable in court. The new measures will allow the authorities to close the net on key figures in gangs which have terrorised whole cities by charging them with directing a criminal gang, a conviction which will carry up to a life sentence. Crime godfathers in places like Limerick and Dublin who believe themselves to be untouchable because of the climate of fear and intimidation that they are able to create will now have to think again as detectives prepare to swoop on them once the new laws come into force. The citizens of this country want those in authority to get tough on these gangs by closing off the avenues of escape which criminals have used for years to get away with their nefarious activities - and that is what this new legislation seeks to do. No-one should easily forget the sense of outrage that accompanied the murder of Roy Collins in April simply because his family gave evidence against a notorious crime figure. The public anger that this killing generated still needs to be channeled into good legislation that takes the power away from criminals and places it in the hands of the forces of law and order. One of the main problems with this new Bill is the proposed use of the non-jury Special Criminal Court to try gangland cases. Trial by jury is a fundamental cornerstone of the Irish judicial system and should only be utilised in exceptional circumstances. While there certainly has been intimidation of witnesses in some gang-related cases in Limerick, there has, as yet, been no reported cases of jury intimidation or interference. So is this new Bill a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? The Gardai need to be given strong powers to take down the crime lords and, for the most part, this new legislation gives them that power. However, it is crucially important that the new law is not hastily cobbled together in knee-jerk fashion and rushed through the Oireachtas in advance of the summer break. These far-reaching measures require careful consideration and a full and proper debate must surround their passage through the Dail. If that means our TDs and senators sitting longer through the summer recess this year to facilitate this, then this should happen, This is too important a piece of legislation to be rushed into law purely for expediency. 'Rushed legislation is bad legislation" is an old adage that often turns out to be true. This should be no 'cut and paste" Bill.