Opposition parties will next month be given the opportunity in the Dáil to debate new legislation aimed at curbing growing gun crime and other gangland activity, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has said.
The Irish Timeshas learned that legislation providing for the long-planned DNA database is currently being finalised and will be published in the next fortnight.
The database would allow gardaí to cross check DNA samples taken from crime scenes with previously-stored samples.
"It's intended it will be dealt with before the election," Mr McDowell said of the enactment of the new package of measures.
However, he said preventive detention, or the internment of gangland figures, would not be proposed.
The planned new legislative package comes after a year in which murder levels and gangland crime reached record highs.
Under the new measures, "hearsay evidence" from a Garda chief superintendent, previously only admissible in the Special Criminal Court, will be admissible during hearings relating to those engaged in gangland activity. This will likely result in more criminals than at present being refused bail.
Current legislation providing for mandatory sentencing is also to be tightened. This measure follows recent revelations in The Irish Timesthat only 20 per cent of criminals eligible for a 10-year sentence for drug dealing were sentenced to that period last year.
Mr McDowell yesterday announced the establishment of a new statutory advisory committee which will codify criminal law into a single simplified Crimes Act.
Mr McDowell said he believed the enactment of a single Act would mean every citizen could access criminal law in an easily understood format. It would also eliminate current inefficiencies and lack of clarity.
Existing Acts which set down the laws in relation to the same crime categories will be brought together in new chapters under the proposed new Crime Act.
One chapter could deal with homicide and others with sexual offences, theft and property-related offences or non-fatal offences against the person.
"[It] will make life easier for all stakeholders involved in the criminal justice system, lawyers, judges, the police and not least the ordinary citizen," he said.
The new criminal law codification advisory committee will oversee the formulation of the new code.
It will be chaired by Finbarr McAuley of UCD, Jean Monnet Professor of European Criminal Justice Law. The other members of the new committee will be appointed in the near future. Its research will be carried out by a new research unit at UCD's school of law.
The creation of one single penal code to replace existing legislation was proposed in the Programme for Government in 2002.
The announcement in Dublin yesterday of the new committee's establishment followed recommendations of an expert group on codification established by Mr McDowell in 2003.
The group recommended that codification be undertaken on a phased basis.