The wheels of justice in Ireland have been far too slow when it comes to prosecuting people over the Dublin Riots, the Tánaiste has told Newstalk Breakfast.
Micheál Martin pointed to the response to similar riots in the UK over the summer and noted that the British system “had people in jail within a week”.
He made the comments while defending his controversial remarks about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier at a launch event for a new book on the crime and Ireland’s response to it.
In a speech at the event, the Tánaiste said Ireland’s legal system “proved incapable of meeting its responsibilities to Sophie” adding that we “failed in our duty to find and convict a bloody murderer”.
He said the evidence against main suspect Ian Bailey was “broad and deep”, adding that it was “hard to understand why this evidence was not put before a jury”.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Minister Martin said the criticism he has received over the remarks has been “absurd” – noting that he refuses to accept the idea that Ireland’s legal system is somehow beyond reproach.
He pointed to the response to the Dublin Riots as an example.
“If you look at what happened in the immediate aftermath of the rioting in Britain - some of the severest of rioting that we have witnessed - Keir Starmer and the Labour Party, who you would hardly think are, you know, far-right hardliners, they had people in jail within a week,” he said.
“Our system was far slower in terms of dealing with events of that kind.”
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When presenter Shane Coleman noted that nobody has been found guilty in relation to the riots nearly ten months on, he suggested that the riots are just one example of the courts system moving too slowly.
“There have been other events where again, you just see people trotting up to the courts, they get bail and they'll be told to come back in two months’ time for the hearing,” he said.
“Justice is not just about law alone … I mean, there was a time in Ireland when people sort of made a virtue out of getting people off on technicalities, for example - legal technicalities - whereas I think justice must always be at the fore of how we administer the law and how we make sure that victims [are protected].”
Asked whether he felt the wheels of justice have been “far too slow” in terms of prosecuting people over the Dublin Riots he said: “I certainly do”.
Ian Bailey is seen in Skibbereen, Cork in June 2019. Picture by: aphperspective / Alamy Stock PhotoLast weekend, Ian Bailey’s solicitor Frank Buttimer described the Tánaiste’s ‘astonishing’ comments on the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier as a ‘feral attack’ on “many of the pillars of the justice of the State”.
Minister Martin said Mr Buttimer’s comments were “over the top, completely” – insisting that people should be entitled to “reflect and to analyse and ask ourselves serious questions in respect of our criminal justice system”.
“Sometimes we have this sort of superiority complex in respect of our criminal justice system, which we need to question,” he said.
“I don't make any apologies for the statement I made because … the idea that there are areas within our justice system that we can't comment on at all, even after the person is dead and after 25 years, I think there's an absurdity there.
“This sort of defensiveness I don't think serves the country well, particularly long after the case is over.”
'No one is beyond question'
Asked whether his comments implied that he knows better than the DPP and the lawyers involved in considering the case, Minister Martin said, “No one in life is beyond question”.
“There seems to be a suggestion that our system, even 25 years on, is beyond reproach or can't be criticised – I don't accept that,” he said. “I think that's a false premise.”
He said many people in Ireland agree with what he said about the murder – including many of those in attendance at the book launch.
“The reality is our system did fail Sophie du Plantier and failed her family and we need to ask questions,” he said.
The Tánaiste also spoke about the upcoming budget, the date for the election and his party colleague Michael McGrath's appointment as the EU's new Justice Commissioner.
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