Judges sharply criticised in Dail debate on crime

THE Minister of State in the Taoiseach's Department, Mr Gay Mitchell, launched a surprising attack on the gardai, the judiciary, housing officers and the prison system during the special Dail debate on crime yesterday.

Claiming that the crime problem was associated more with order than with law, Mr Mitchell said that there was a time when a TD could have a garda moved, "but now a garda can have a TD moved". It was time we "had the courage to stand up and say that it is what we are all saying sotto voce".

The Garda should be fully supported, he stated, "but we are entitled to require from it that its members behave in a totally impartial, non-political manner and keep their noses out of politics, whether they are members of Garda management or Garda trade unions".

Referring to the "unprecedented number of judges" appointed recently, the Minister of State called for a tough person to be appointed as chief executive of the proposed new court services authority.

"The judges have got away with murder for long enough. They have a well remunerated, difficult job and are honourable, but they must be called to account", he said.

Urging them to "get out among the people whom they do not live among", Mr Mitchell suggested that they were entitled to say to the judges "that we have had enough of their interfering with the legislature and the executive. The tail will have to be wagged a bit and judges will have to change the way they do their business".

Meanwhile, six Bills focusing on organised crime, inspired by the public outcry following the death of journalist Veronica Guerin, were processed by the Dail in a special one day sitting yesterday.

The Bills, four of which were passed, marked the culmination of the most concentrated month's work on one topic by all arms of the Government in recent times. The Seanad will sit today to consider the measures.

As TDs were recalled from their summer holidays to deal with the Government's anti crime package the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton said that Irish society was willing to pay the price for the battle against crime. "Better law enforcement costs money. Every new law requires new staff to implement it. That means less money for tax cuts", he warned.

The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, said that she had accepted a proposal from the new Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Byrne, to locate a Garda liaison officer in both Madrid and The Hague as part of the ongoing battle against drugs. She also announced that extra court accommodation would be provided in part of the former Richmond Hospital in Dublin next January.

The only new element in the Government's crime package, announced by instalment in the past month, was the publication of the Criminal Assets Bureau Bill yesterday. This provides for the setting up of a bureau, headed by a Garda chief superintendent, comprising officers from the Garda and officials of the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Social Welfare, to identify suspected criminal assets. All members of the bureau, with the exception of gardai, will be guaranteed anonymity in court proceedings.

A senior officer previously in the Garda Fraud Squad is tipped to head the bureau when it is established next week.

There were strong exchanges between the Minister for Justice and her Opposition spokesman, Mr John O'Donoghue, of Fianna Fail, during yesterday's debate. He accused Mrs Owen of having promised so many measures, at this stage, that "her long finger resembles Pinocchio's nose".