home » media centre » press releases

Second special criminal court marks change of direction on key policy issue

Issued : Wednesday 22 December, 2004

“Today’s announcement by Justice Minister Michael McDowell that he intends to establish a second Special Criminal Court on New Year’s Day represents another change of direction on a major question of policy and principle.

“On his appointment as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell announced that he wanted to see the gradual phasing out of the Special Criminal Court and the maximisation of jury trials in criminal cases. He said: "Juries remain as the bedrock of our criminal justice system".

“Now, in order to clear a backlog of cases that should never have been sent to the Special Criminal Court in the first place, Minister McDowell is intent on doubling the resources provided to a system he is supposed to be phasing out.

“When the Offences against the State Act was passed in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, it was never the intention of the Oireachtas that special, non-jury courts should become a permanent feature of our criminal justice system. It was intended to be an emergency provision, to operate only when the ordinary courts were completely inadequate to secure the effective administration of justice.

“But a single such court has now been in existence since 1972 and, far from arranging for its eventual abolition, as has been done with the Diplock counterparts in Northern Ireland, this ostensibly most liberal-minded of Ministers is copper-fastening their position in the system.

Under the Good Friday Agreement the government gave a commitment to review the operation of emergency legislation, such as the Offences Against the State Act, under which the Special Criminal Court was established. While a review group was established under Mr. Justice Hederman, which reported in due course, its recommendations have been totally ignored by the government.”