Ireland

Head of state: Mary McAleese
Head of government: Bertie Ahern
Capital: Dublin
Population: 3.6 million
Official languages: Irish, English
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes

The government participated in negotiations about a future political settlement in Northern Ireland. Various human rights provisions of the 1998 Multi-Party Agreement were under active consideration by the government. The tradition of tolerance towards minorities was eroded during the year – in particular there were many reports of racially motivated physical and verbal abuse against asylum-seekers and travellers.

Human rights provisions

The Multi-Party Agreement of April 1998 concerning the future of Northern Ireland envisaged a continuing role for the Irish and United Kingdom governments, and proposed mechanisms to promote and protect human rights. The government acted on some of these proposals. It put forward draft legislation in July on the creation of a Human Rights Commission with powers of inquiry, monitoring and reviewing, and it considered the incorporation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms into domestic law. These provisions were discussed in a meeting in June between the Minister of Justice and AI representatives. Other issues raised at the same meeting included: asylum legislation; emergency legislation; procedures to examine complaints against the police; inquests; and inquiries into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the case of Seamus Ludlow.

The government initiated a thorough review of the Offences against the State Acts. In October AI urged the Review Committee to recommend the disestablishment of the Special Criminal Court and the repeal of provisions including those permitting internment and impinging on the right to silence. AI called for detainees to have the right to free legal assistance during questioning.

Inquiries into alleged collusion

The government appointed the retiring Chief Justice, Liam Hamilton, to carry out a private, but independent, judicial inquiry into the bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in 1974, which killed 33 people and injured hundreds. Members of the Northern Ireland security forces' intelligence units allegedly colluded with the Ulster Volunteer Force, a Loyalist armed group, in the bombings. The inquiry would also examine the police investigation of the bombings, and the bombing of a pub in Dundalk in 1975. By the end of 1999, it was still not decided whether the inquiry would also examine the killing of Seamus Ludlow in 1976, and the alleged subsequent cover-up by both British and Irish authorities. Seamus Ludlow was killed in Ireland, reportedly by a Northern Irish Loyalist group, which included two soldiers.

The government stated that the inquiry's results would be published, and that a subsequent public inquiry remained possible. AI had called for public inquiries into these incidents.

Inquests

In October a High Court judge overturned a coroner's decision to allow police witnesses involved in a fatal shooting to remain anonymous and to give evidence from behind screens, and a further decision to allow the police to limit the family's access to forensic evidence. The decision was taken in the case of John Morris, a member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), who had been shot dead in disputed circumstances in 1997 by police during an attempted robbery. The coroner appealed against the High Court decision.

Refugees

The Immigration Bill 1999 was introduced in order to amend the 1996 Refugee Act, which the government claimed was unworkable, and which had not been enacted in full, leaving gaps in the legal framework for refugee protection. AI was concerned about various parts of the bill, including its failure to recognize the fundamental nature of the right of non-refoulement . AI was also concerned about the Illegal Immigrants Trafficking Bill, which failed to make a distinction between professional traffickers and those assisting genuine asylum-seekers.

AI country reports and visits

Report

  • Republic of Ireland: Submission to the Committee to Review the Offences Against the State Acts and Other Matters (AI Index: EUR 29/001/99)

Visit

AI delegates visited Ireland in June and met the Minister of Justice.

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