THERE WERE sharp exchanges in the Dáil between Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and Fine Gael children’s spokesman Alan Shatter over whose proposals for victims’ rights were better.
Mr Shatter hit out at claims by Mr Ahern that its victims’ rights proposals were “bootlegged” and plagiarised from New Zealand.
Mr Ahern insisted, however, that “there is no such thing as a single transferable Bill between jurisdictions”, and said “this is not a classroom where you cog homework”.
There were “major problems with this latest Fine Gael effort”that “could actually undermine the benefits it seeks to create”.
The Fine Gael spokesman accused the Minister of engaging in “the worst kind of petty and small-minded politics”, following a row in the Dáil last week after Mr Ahern announced his own proposals at a press conference.
The Fine Gael spokesman said last night the Minister had widely briefed journalists that “I had simply plagiarised a New Zealand Act and had in some way engaged in improper conduct.”
It was “best practice to examine similar legislation operating in other parts of the world and to enact into Irish law legislation working well elsewhere in a form designed to address this State’s particular needs and problems”.
The “Minister and his departmental handlers have been touting around victims’ rights legislation from New Zealand and expressing hostility to Fine Gael’s Bill because it reflects some provision in New Zealand law as if New Zealand is some alien state with whom we have nothing in common and which forms part of the Axis of Evil,” Mr Shatter said.
But Mr Ahern insisted that while the Fine Gael Bill “appears reasonable” on a first reading, that was “because it is in essence a replications of New Zealand’s Victims’ Rights Act 2002,” which he said was “outdated” and had to be reviewed.
Mr Shatter said his Victims’ Rights Bill was substantially more detailed than that promised by the Minister for Justice, but Mr Ahern said that his legislation would be the “most far-reaching and radical set of proposals for victims of crime since the foundation of the State”.
Mr Ahern said his “ground- breaking” legislation would remove the “double jeopardy” rule where a defendant could not be re-tried for a serious offence, once acquitted.
He said that virtually every section, “line by line”, of the Fine Gael Bill replicated the New Zealand legislation, which that country was now reviewing.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan described the Minister as “partisan” and “small-minded” and he accused the Minister of showing a “complete vacuum” in his knowledge of the drafting of legislation. His stance was “illogical and utter nonsense”.
Labour spokesman Brian O’Shea said the “aggro” and “scoring points” was wasteful and he did not see much difference between the Fine Gael and Government proposals. The debate continues tonight.
