Statement by the President of the Human Rights Commission,
Dr. Maurice Manning, on the publication of the IHRC’s Submission on the
Scheme of the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Bill
The Commission has a concern, which we believe is shared by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, about the level of democratic scrutiny and accountability in the drafting process of legislation originating in the European Union.
We are aware that the State is obliged to incorporate the Convention on Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters into our domestic law, but we feel that a large proportion of legislative discretion with regard to the subject matter of the Bill has been ceded in the course of the drafting process of the source EU legislation. As a consequence, we believe that any consideration of the human rights issues raised by this legislation at this point cannot compensate for inadequate consideration of these issues in the course of drafting the source EU legislation. We expressed similar concern in our Observations on the European Arrest Warrants Bill in September 2003 and on the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002.
Our concern at the drafting process around agreements such as this EU Convention is not an issue peculiar to Ireland. In the United Kingdom, for example, the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union made a number of comprehensive written submissions on working drafts of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and on the EU/US Agreements on Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance. In particular, the Select Committee and a number of civil liberties groups which made submissions to it expressed concern in relation to the changed nature of the Convention and the extension of its remit at the later stages of drafting.
In the view of the Human Rights Commission, there is much merit in the idea of a transparent scrutiny of the human rights issues involved in such agreements at this earlier stage. This procedural concern is obviously of wider significance than the present Bill, but we believe that it is of fundamental importance given the ever-expanding competence of the EU in areas of policy and law that have the potential to impact directly on the protection of human rights in Ireland.
This is an issue which the Human Rights Commission intends to return to in the future.
The full text of the Commission’s Submission is available on our website www.ihrc.ie
A spokesperson from the Commission is available for comment.
For further information, please contact:
Mary Ruddy
Senior Human Rights Awareness Officer
Irish Human Rights Commission.
Jervis House,
Jervis Street,
Dublin 1.
Tel. 01 8589 601
Mobile: 087 2400695
E-mail: info@ihrc.ie
Website : http://www.ihrc.ie