A BILL allowing courts to "freeze" criminals' assets - even if no crime has been proven - should be passed by the Dail on Thursday.
Yesterday, the main opposition parties welcomed Government changes to a Fianna Fail Bill on asset seizure, introduced in the Dail last month after the murder of the journalist, Veronica Guerin.
Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats said the Government changes had improved the original Bill. However, the PDs said some aspects of the revised Bill still caused concern. "The greatest challenge will be to ensure that it's constitutionally sound," said the party's spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz O'Donnell.
The PDs will call for the proceeds of any sale of criminal assets by the State to be directed towards drug rehabilitation and other health programmes, a practice followed in other countries.
The Bill is to be discussed by the Dail's Legislation and Security Committee tomorrow and is expected to pass all stages on Thursday.
The Fianna Fail justice spokesman, Mr John O'Donoghue, who had proposed a Bill dealing with the proceeds of organised crime, welcomed the broadening of its provisions to include the proceeds of all types of crime.
The legislation allows a court to determine, on the balance of probabilities, that a person's assets have been illegally earned and should therefore be "frozen" by the State. Assets could be frozen for an initial three weeks and then for seven years, with the burden of proof the criminal to show that they were lawfully earned.
Ms O'Donnell said yesterday that the Bill was bound to raise constitutional concerns because of the way it allowed a court to determine that some criminal activity had taken place, even where there had been no criminal conviction.
If the constitutional problems could be overcome, there were other aspects which needed to be examined, including the prospect that the legislation could lead to asset seizures which would penalise "innocent directors and part owners of property", she said.
Business people or property owners who owned a portion of an asset might not be aware that their partners' share was bought with the profits of crime. Safeguards would have to be written into the legislation to protect such innocent parties.
Other measures to be discussed in the Dail on Thursday include the Government's Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, which seeks to reduce the number of court appearances made by defendants and the time spent by gardai in court.
Mr O'Donoghue said this Bill would mean gardai spending "a little less time" in court, but the Bill should have included more radical measures to save Garda time, such as on the spot fines for minor traffic offences.