ORGANISATIONS REPRESENTING the victims of crime welcomed the decision of the DPP to give reasons for not proceeding with a prosecution where a death is involved.
However, the president of the Law Society warned that this would lead to injustices.
DPP James Hamilton outlined his reasons for changing the policy of his office in a document posted on its website yesterday.
This followed an earlier discussion document, representations from victims' organisations and members of the public, and a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights against Northern Ireland when the government refused to give reasons for not prosecuting in the case of a death caused by the security forces.
Cari, representing the victims of child sex abuse, and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre both gave the proposal a broad welcome, but called for the policy shift to be extended to the victims of sexual assault as soon as possible.
The DPP has already indicated he would do this in the light of the experience of the first phase of the policy change.
"A case that relies on a child's evidence is rarely proceeded with, admittedly for the good reason that giving evidence in court and being subjected to cross-examination is often an experience of further trauma and re-victimisation," CARI said in a statement.
"The giving of reasons would at least open a window for policy and lawmakers to information which, in Cari's view, should lead to a radical and fundamental reshaping of our legal system towards the European magisterial system."
These systems are kinder to victims of child sex abuse, it said.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre expressed concern that it would be another two years before the victims of sexual assault would fall under the new policy.
"We know that there is a chronic situation of under-reporting of sexual crimes in this country. Not including sexual crimes at this stage does not help the situation," chief executive Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop said.
The decision was also welcomed by Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter. "The DPP's decision is a welcome first step along the road to providing crime victims with information to which they are entitled. Fine Gael hopes it will lead to a more comprehensive approach in coming years," he said.
However, James MacGuill, president of the Law Society, said that the move was likely to lead to sloppier cases being brought to court and to people's reputations being unjustly tarnished.
People would have no alternative but to take defamation proceedings to clear their names, he said. "In the UK there are a lot more acquittals in sexual cases than we would have. I believe this is because cases are being brought that we would not bring, in order to avoid giving reasons for not bringing them," he said.
He said that letters from the DPP outlining reasons for non-prosecutions would enter the public domain through the media or, for example, by victims approaching a suspect's employer.
"The only way to clear your name would be by suing." Referring to the European case, he said this meant that the facts should come out where a state was responsible for a death.
It was not concerned with giving reasons for not prosecuting.
The new policy was also welcomed by Ray McAndrew, chair of the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime.
"This new policy has the potential to alleviate some of the distress felt by families of the deceased where the DPP decides not to prosecute an alleged offence," he said.