The Government is to extend the maximum period of time gardaí can detain crime suspects under new legislation to be published today. The Criminal Justice Bill, 2003, will allow for a range of measures to strengthen Garda powers, including those to compel suspects to provide DNA samples during investigations.
Gardaí will also be able to extend the time they can preserve the scene of a crime for forensic examination under the legislation to be published by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.
The Bill will be introduced in the new Dáil session in the autumn and comes at a time when the Government continues to face criticism over its failure to fulfil a promise to recruit an additional 2,000 gardaí.
With a spate of gangland-style killings continuing over the summer, Mr McDowell is expected to present the latest measures as a significant increase in the powers of the Garda to fight crime.
The measures were agreed by the Cabinet before the Government's summer break.
While promising to increase the strength of the force "as and when economic and financial circumstances permit", the Government has already published separate legislation to radically reform the Garda.
The extensions of detention periods to be outlined today will depend on the suspected crime in question. They will require the written sanction of a senior officer, who will be obliged to state that there is good reason to extend a detention period.
Gardaí are already empowered to detain certain suspects for up to seven days under current legislation. However, that period applies only to investigations of serious drug-related crime.
Suspects held under the Offences Against the State Act can be detained for up to 72 hours. This includes an initial detention period of 48 hours, which can be extended for 24 hours on foot of a court order.
Those held under Section 4 of the existing Criminal Justice Act of 1984, which covers crime carrying sentences of more than five years, can be detained for up to 12 hours.
This includes an initial six-hour period which can be increased with the consent of a Garda superintendent.
The power of gardaí to compel suspects to provide DNA samples will expand the powers set out in the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence) Act of 1990.
Gardaí can take saliva, blood, urine and hair samples under that Act in certain circumstances. The authorisation of a superintendent is generally required for such samples to be sought.
Judges have wide powers to draw severe inferences from the failure of a suspect to provide such samples in some crime categories.
While it is already an offence to resist giving samples, the new measures will increase the powers of gardaí to take samples where a suspect is unwilling to co-operate with an investigation.
The increase in powers to preserve the scene of a crime will give gardaí more time to search for forensic evidence.