In May 2008, retired High Court president Freddie Morris recommended that a Committee be set up to “formulate and recommend the policy to be implemented in respect of investigative interviewing by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána on an ongoing basis in all its respects, and make such recommendations from time to time in relation… Continue reading 26 months later
Tag: human rights
QED
Kevin Myers writes, in the Irish Independent of Friday 25 May, 2009: “Google Amnesty International and Hamas, and you will find many, many condemnations by Amnesty of Israel; but you will have to work very hard indeed to find Amnesty’s condemnations of Hamas. Yes, there are some, but they are seriously muted in comparison to… Continue reading QED
Basic Law
In a attempt to appear radical, Fine Gael are pitching a series of constitutional amendments if elected into government. Some are cosmetic. Reducing the president’s term of office from seven to five years, the right to petition the Oireachtas. Some are welcome. More powers to (some) Oireachtas committees. Some are sheer populism. Cut the number… Continue reading Basic Law
Ten Years On
Sometimes, it’s worth remembering how far we’ve come. ‘Looking back over the past decade, the landscape of policing in Northern Ireland has been transformed,’ foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin said today. ‘The PSNI is a modern police service, one which is representative of the community that it serves.’ ‘The blueprint for that transformation was the… Continue reading Ten Years On
Frankness
I haven’t written too much about the new Criminal Justice Act, signed into law by the president last week. In case you missed it too, hearsay has been upgraded to evidence, as has the opinion of a Garda. Politicians dislike speaking out against attacks on civil rights in this country. Too many people are afraid… Continue reading Frankness
Any Other Business
It’s going to be an interesting week in Dáil Éireann. Desperate not to cut back on their holiday time,the government has opted instead to cut debating time, and plans to guillotine several bills into law by Friday. Among the highlights: The blasphemy clause in the Defamation bill, making it illegal to say naughty things if… Continue reading Any Other Business
There’s Always One
The benefit of the doubt (or if you prefer, the presumption of innocence) is one of the longest established principles in the common law. At it’s most blunt, the principle is expressed in Blackstone’s formulation: “better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer”. Populist cheerleaders for tough policing often focus on those… Continue reading There’s Always One
Fixing the Bunreacht
There’s a constitutional amendment scheduled for October, to change our minds about the Lisbon treaty. This is an ideal opportunity for Dermot Ahern. He feels he must make blasphemy a crime, otherwise the people will go through the ‘costly and unwarranted diversion‘ of a referendum. But now he has an ideal chance to tack on… Continue reading Fixing the Bunreacht
In Tehran, The Revolution Is Being Tweeted
For the record, some of the messages from one twitterer in Tehran, identified as persiankiwi. we do not know if foreign press are covering this. we cannot access satellites tehran is at standstill. all major routes jammed with people. unconfirmed as yet – mousavi newspaper offices raided. unconfirmed – Mashad is violent. have spoken with… Continue reading In Tehran, The Revolution Is Being Tweeted
Full Disclosure
The redress board worked upstairs, and I worked downstairs at the tribunal. Sometimes, I’d meet a survivor as I took a cigarette break. They’d tell me what was going on upstairs was unbelievable. I’d tell them that as much as I’d love to hear it, I was a journalist, and forbidden by law from talking… Continue reading Full Disclosure