Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-25
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Chris Andrews (SF), Labour Panel

Sinn Féin welcomes the fact that the Government has finally come round to Sinn Féin's position that the offences against the State legislation should be overhauled. It is disappointing that three years after the publication of the review of the Offences Against the State Acts, the Government is once again renewing the existing provisions because it has been so slow in bringing forward new legislation to provide for the recommendations of that review.
The independent review group, chaired by Mr. Justice Michael Peart, in its report published in 2023 recommended that the Offences Against the State Acts be abolished in their entirety, with a majority recommending that a new non-jury court replace the Special Criminal Court to try serious criminal offences for which a threshold is reached. Sinn Féin has called for the proposals of this report to be implemented and for legislation to be brought forward without further delay. Given the fact that the Government and the Minister continue to drag their feet on this issue, Sinn Féin will be bringing forward legislation in the Dáil to require the Government to act and to provide the Dáil with progress reports.
Sinn Féin has argued that the legislation should stipulate that the courts, rather than the DPP, be provided with the power to decide on whether a non-jury trial should take place, as in the majority report. The legislation should also include a higher bar than recommended in the majority report for a non-jury trial. The legislation should include the requirement of evidence of a real and present danger that jury tampering would take place.
There is now widespread consensus that the laws drafted in the 1930s need to be updated. We need to ensure that An Garda Síochána and the courts have the resources and powers necessary to tackle organised crime and keep communities safe. The potential for jury intimidation remains the argument for non-jury courts, yet little has been done to protect jurors. The Law Reform Commission recommended in 2013 that the right of inspection of the jury panel, which may facilitate persons who wish to contact or identify jurors, should be restricted. It recommended the abolition of the daily roll-call of serving jurors in open court and the creation of a single offence of jury tampering. In Sinn Féin's submission to the independent review, we called for the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in relation to the protection of jurors to be implemented, and for the practices of other jurisdictions to be thoroughly examined with a view to adopting best practice in line with international standards to protect jurors. The independent review group to examine the Offences Against the State Acts has called for this to be done and there is no reason whatsoever for further delay in doing so.
Communities across the State are facing serious challenges relating to crime and antisocial behaviour, particularly in Dublin and its inner city. There are far too few gardaí to adequately police communities and, in particular, there is a lack of community gardaí and roads policing gardaí. The lack of community gardaí and the failure to divert young people from crime are real problems that must be dealt with. Those failures have allowed young people to become vulnerable to being preyed upon by those involved in organised crime from a young age. It is young people in communities failed by the Government and experiencing deprivation who are most vulnerable to being targeted by these criminal gangs, including as drug runners for drug traffickers. We need enough gardaí to police our streets, but we also need to see investment in communities in diversion and youth facilities, as well as tackling wealth inequality and poverty.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-25