GAZETTE
JULY/AUGUST 1990
In
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
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Fax: 307860
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save where otherwise indicated, are the
views of the contributors and not
necessarily the views of the Council of
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GAZETTE
INCORPORATE D
LAW SOCIETY
OF IRELAND
VOL
84 No.
7
Seotemoe''!
Viewpoint
V,
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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235