The Attorney General is likely to face questioning at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee next month on the Offences Against the State Acts, including the 1998 Amendment which has just been extended for a further 12 months.
The Minister for Justice yesterday introduced a resolution into the Dail to extend the amendment, introduced after the Omagh bombing, despite a commitment in the Belfast Agreement to review all emergency legislation.
The UNHRC meets in Geneva on July 13th and 14th, and will be examining the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, as part of its periodic review of the Government's human rights records.
In 1993, before the IRA ceasefire, this committee was critical of the government for its use of the Offences Against the State Act and the Special Criminal Court set up under the Act. It is likely to reiterate this criticism in the context of the Belfast Agreement.
Both the British and Irish governments made a commitment to review their anti-terrorism legislation in this agreement, and the British government has already amended some aspects of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, especially those sections relating to internment and to deporting people from Britain to Northern Ireland.
The Irish Government set up a committee under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Hederman to review the Offences Against the State Act. This committee has received a number of submissions and has been conducting research on the impact of international human rights conventions on this legislation. It is now expected to report by the end of the year.
A number of the submissions, including those from the Law Society of Ireland and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, have stated that the Act, which was first passed in 1939, is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and/or the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They point out that the Act was introduced before these conventions, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, were drafted.
Mr O'Donoghue said the Act should be extended pending the report of the committee set up to consider both the main Act and its amendments.
The 1998 amendment to the Offences Against the State Act curbs the right to silence and makes the failure of an accused person to answer questions evidence against him or her of membership of an illegal organisation.
It also allows for detention for questioning to be extended to three days, and makes provision for the confiscation of houses or land where weapons or explosives are found.
However, a report prepared by the Minister on the working of the Act, obligatory in order to secure its extension, states that these new measures have not been used to secure a single conviction since their introduction.
According to the report, "the provisions in question have been utilised where appropriate by the Garda during the investigation of offences."
It also said 29 people had had their periods of detention extended to three days under the Act, but none had been charged with or convicted of any offence.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties yesterday called on members of the Oireachtas not to renew the 1998 Amendment Act.
"The Minister's report clearly shows that these harsh measures are not necessary to curb residual violence connected with the Northern conflict," it said.