The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

JULY/AUGUST 1990

this

Issue

Viewpoint

2 35

Entitlement to damages for

breach of Community

legislation under English

L aw

Lawbrief

Unit Linked Funds

2 37

2 42

2 4 8

Younger Members News

2 50

Add back calculations in

Intoxicated Driving

Of f ences

2 52

The First Women L awy e rs 2 56

Attitudes of apprentices to

computers

Bootf Rev i ews

2 59

261

ofessional Information

2 65

E x e c u t i ve Editor:

Mary Gaynor

C omm i t t e e:

Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman

Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman

John F Buckley

Gary Byrne

Patrick McMahon

Daire Murphy

John Schutte

Advertising:

Seán Ó hOisin. Telephone: 305236

Fax: 307860

Printing:

Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.

The views expressed in this publication,

save where otherwise indicated, are the

views of the contributors and not

necessarily the views of the Council of

the Society.

The appearance of an advertisement in

this publication does not necessarily

indicate approval by the Society for the

product or service advertised.

Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.

Tel

710711

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GAZETTE

INCORPORATE D

LAW SOCIETY

OF IRELAND

VOL

84 No.

Seotemoe''!

Viewpoint

Only in a community where media

hype appears from time to time to

over-ride rational discussion and

relevant facts could there have

been a demand for a Constitutional

amendment to restrict the avail-

ability of bail at this time. Almost

c o n t emp o r a n e o u s ly

w i th the

revelation that persons had taken

part in an armed robbery while on

bail for similar charges came the

pub l i c a t i on of the

s t a t i s t i cs

showing the enormous effect of

the provisions of the

Criminal

Justice Act, 1984

requiring Courts

to impose additional sentences

where a convicted person had

committed offences while on bail.

These showed a dramatic decline

in the number of offences com-

mitted while persons were on bail.

We have recently seen in two

well-publicised cases involving Irish

people in France and Germany

what enormous delays there can be

in a judicial process once the

a c cus ed are safely imprisoned. In

passing it may be commented that

it is one of the more astonishing

aspects of the European Charter on

Human Rights and the adminis-

tration of it that there does not

appear to be any sanction on states

wh i ch do not process criminal

procedures rapidly or any recom-

pense for those ultimately found

not guilty.

It seems clear that the me s s age

about committing offences while

on bail has got through to those

petty criminals who commit the

greatest number of offences. An

area where the position may be less

satisfactory is that of juvenile crime

but no change in bail regulations

will solve the major problem in this

area, namely the absence of proper

detention centres for those who are

convicted.

So long as it remains a tenet of

our judicial system that a person is

innocent until he is proved guilty

t hen he has a p r ima

f a c ie

entitlement to remain at liberty until

the question of his guilt has been

determined. That is not an absolute

right and the Supreme Court have

never said that it was nor has it ever

said that there should not be

conditions attached to bail.

There may be a case for impos

ing more stringent conditions on

the granting of bail, particularly to

t h o se

c h a r g ed

w i th

s e r i o us

offences s uch as requiring them to

report to Garda Stations or officials

of the Probation Service. Whether

it would be sensible to try to im-

pose an obligation on the surety

who g o es bail for the good

behaviour of the a c cus ed may be

more doubtful. S u ch a provision

might in one sense be counter

p r od u c t i ve

if s u r e t i es

we re

unwilling to take on the task of

ensuring that the ac cus ed kept out

of further trouble since that might

discourage people from acting as

sureties.

One of the poorer arguments that

has been directed at the question

is the absence of prison facilities

for persons who might not be

allowed bail in the future. The truth

is that the absence of sufficient

facilities for those who have been

convicted of offences is a national

scandal which admittedly would be

worsened by the addition of the

number of persons who might be

r e f u s ed bail under

d i f f e r ent

guidelines. It might be interesting to

focus enquiry on whether those

who are given early release from jail

are subsequently found to have

committed offences during the

unexpired periods of their terms.

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