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GAZETTE
MARCH 1994
The CAJ Handbook on Civil
Liberties in Northern Ireland
Editor: Brice Dickson, second edition,
published by the Committee on the
Administration of Justice, Belfast,
1993, softback, 387pp
Over the years, the administration of
justice in Northern Ireland has been at
the core of the conflict there and those
who are familiar with more recent
history in Northern Ireland will be
aware of the important role played by
the Civil Rights Movement in focusing
attention on aspects of the
administration there before the
Stormont Parliament was prorogued.
Although the Government of Ireland
Act, 1920, prohibited the Northern
Ireland Parliament from discriminating
on grounds of religion, nationalists in
Northern Ireland felt that, under the old
Stormont regime, equality of treatment,
especially in housing, employment and,
for many years, in local government
franchise, was denied them and their
citizenship was less equal than that of
their Unionist brethren. Their
dissatisfaction culminated, in the late
1960s, in an active civil rights campaign
which, mainly because of the
intransigence and inept handling of the
Stormont Government, erupted into
civil disorder.
One of the primary objectives of the
Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 was the
establishment of a framework through
which nationalists in Northern Ireland
could achieve redress in areas of civil
liberties, particularly in relation to the
administration of justice but also, of
course, in relation to employment. The
Irish Government was given a role
under the Agreement and has, since
1985, acted, in a sense, as the guardian
of nationalist rights. Principally through
the operation of the Anglo-Irish
Secretariat at Maryfield, steady progress
has been made in improving the
position of nationalists. The Agreement,
for the first time, conferred legitimacy
on those who aspired, through
democratic means, to a united Ireland.
The Irish language was given official
recognition and Irish language schools
have, since the Agreement, been grant-
aided. The repeal of the Flags and
Emblems Act, which made it unlawful
to display the tricolour, was also
important symbolically. But perhaps the
most important change was the
transformation which was brought about
in policing and, while much of this took
place before the signing of the
Agreement (principally the abolition of
the special constabulary), the increasing
professionalism of the RUC was
accelerated after the Agreement and was
a matter that prompted much favourable
comment on this side of the border.
Significant progress was also made in
the area of employment by the
enactment in 1989 of new Fair
Employment legislation which went
considerably further than previous
legislation in providing a framework for
equality and which has, through
vigorous monitoring by the Fair
Employment Commission in Northern
Ireland, kept the spotlight on this vital
area.
It is clear, therefore, that civil liberties -
in all their diverse aspects - are very
much at the heart of the divisions in
Northern Ireland and this handbook
(which is an updated version of a
handbook first published in 1990) will
be widely welcomed by people with an
interest in the topic. Brice Dickson, its
editor, is to be commended for bringing
together a very comprehensive range of
essays on all aspects of civil liberties in
Northern Ireland. The handbook deals
not only with issues that have been at
the heart of the debate over civil rights
in Northern Ireland, such as the powers
of the police and the army, the
questioning of suspects, and the impact
of the Prevention of Terrorism Act but
also a wide range of
social issues
such
as sex discrimination, rights of disabled
people, education and social security
rights. This is essentially a textbook that
sets out the law applicable in all these
areas and practitioners will find it an
extremely useful source of information.
None of the essays has been written
from any political or ideological
standpoint; the writers have attempted
to set out in a factual way the prevailing
provisions affecting the particular
'right' or 'civil liberty' being discussed.
There is not, therefore, very much by
way of subjective comment or analysis
on the shortcomings of the law and
practitioners looking for a
straightforward, accurate and concise
statement of legal principle will,
perhaps, welcome this.
I was personally glad to see the question
of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland
addressed by Brice Dickson in the
introductory chapter. Mr. Dickson
makes clear that the CAJ believes that a
more comprehensive Bill of Rights is
required for Northern Ireland. He says
that the law of Northern Ireland is quite
invasive in the area of civil liberties and
places many constraints on the rights of
people. These constraints are, in his
view, "so far reaching and the discretion
conferred on administrative bodies so
all-embracing that the resulting liberty
is at times very narrow in scope". Mr.
Dickson believes that a Bill of Rights
would not only increase confidence in
the administration of justice but also
improve the content of the law and
make people more physically secure.
The CAJ has, in fact, published its own
Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland and
has suggested that this should be
enshrined in the law.
In a divided society, the protection of
individual rights is vital. The
publication of this handbook will help
to improve understanding of the
complexity of the issues involved and of
the nature of conflict in such a society.
Noel C. Ryan
The Evidence of Children -
The Law and The Psychology
By J.R. Spencer and Rhona Flin,
second edition, 1993, Blackstone Press
Ltd., 465pp, softback, £21.95 stg.
Recently the English courts and the
media have highlighted the evidence of
children generally in the sad case of the
Jamie Bulger murder in Liverpool.
The
Evidence of Children - the Law and the
Psychology
is the second edition of a
book first published in 1990. The
authors are a lawyer and a psychologist.
The book outlines the English and
Scottish legal systems mainly and there
is also reference to the Northern Ireland
legal system of the law relating to the