SUSPECTS MAY LOSE THE RIGHT TO SILENCE

A REPORT soon to be submitted to the Minister for Justice will recommend
restricting the right to silence in all criminal offences, it has been
learned.

Given the Government's strong line on crime the recommendation will be
backed by some Cabinet members but it is likely to provoke extensive
controversy and opposition over concerns about civil liberties.

There are already worries about the far-reaching implications of such a
fundamental change for the legal system and for individual rights under the
constitution. The report follows from the main Strategic Management
Initiative (SMI) which recommended a radical overhaul of the Garda and
several legal changes to combat crime.

Although consultants engaged on the main SMI report recommended action on
the right to silence the Government deferred making decisions until it was
thrashed out in more detail.

A special group, chaired by Eamon Leahy SC, set up to assist with the SMI
recommendations, was asked to examine the right to silence and other legal
changes in the context of the Constitution and our obligations under the
European Convention on Human Rights.

Their report is now close to completion and will be presented to Justice
Minister John O'Donoghue and it is expected to open a major debate at
government level.

It is expected the Leahy report will develop the recommendation made
previously in the main SMI report that a court be allowed to draw
inferences when a suspect relies on the right to silence during questioning.

Sources say it is unlikely that the right to silence would be abolished
entirely but that it would be qualified or modified in tandem with
building-in other safeguards such as a time limit on questioning and the
presence of a legal adviser during such questioning.

In anticipation of the report it has already been decided not to include
such a provision -- restricting the right to silence -- in the context of
the major Fraud Bill due before the Dail in the Autumn.

The Maguire Committee, which examined serious fraud, and the Director of
Public Prosecutions have separately called for changes in the right to
silence in fraud cases and it for a period it was likely this would be
incorporated in the new Fraud Bill.

However, it is understood the Government decided not to go down that road
at this stage as it would involve ``piecemeal'' changes to the right to
silence.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski