Brian Stanley: Calls to Repeal Outdated Offences Against State Act
Brian Stanley addresses the Dail to challenge the annual renewal of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 and urges repeal or substantial reform. He cites calls for change from legal practitioners, the UN Human Rights Committee, Amnesty International and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and warns the law has been open to abuse.
Summary of the speech
Brian Stanley criticises the yearly renewal of emergency-era legislation originally introduced in 1939. He repeats long-standing concerns that the Offences Against the State Act is outdated, has been used for political purposes, and was recommended for reform by reports including Justice Hetelman (2002) and a 2023 review.
Human rights and legal concerns
Stanley highlights that a range of legal bodies and human rights organisations have called for repeal or substantial reform, including changes to non-jury procedures. He argues that refusal to answer loaded questions or conduct during interrogation should not be used to imply guilt and stresses risks of abuse in current practice.
Historical promises and political context
The speaker recalls commitments linked to the Good Friday Agreement to reform the Act, noting that the Government once pledged a wide-ranging review to dispense with provisions no longer required. He tells the new Minister for Justice that the world has changed since 1939 and that legislation designed for wartime emergencies should not persist unchanged.
Alternatives and conclusion
While acknowledging organised crime and the challenges it poses, Stanley says modern tools - technology and witness protections - can address those threats without relying on emergency-era powers. He urges that the Act be consigned to history and hopes the Dail will not be forced to renew it next year.
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Mr Comhairle, and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this, but I have to say, Minister, this is a bit of a charade. It's my 16th year here, and year after year we come in here and this is renewed by government. I mean, it was brought in, Defence Against State Act first introduced in 1939. There was an emergency then, there was a second world war. But the facts are that this is renewed annually now, 89 years later, and that's a cause of great concern. Numerous legal practitioners and the UN Human Rights Committee, Amnesty International and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, all have called for repeal or substantial reform. The Government Commission reports by Justice Hetelman in 2002, and more recently the report in 2023, your report, recommended changes including the non-jury dimension. And as I said, this is my 16th year here for this. It should never be dealt with in this way. Emergency legislation is emergency legislation. I have stated before, and I do so here again, that this legislation, the Offences Against State Act, was at times used for political purposes. That's a fact. Refusal to answer loaded questions should never be used as a method of implying guilt, nor should the conduct of the accused, or during interrogation or other times, or by association. They have the potential to be abused, as has the word of a Garda Superintendent. But almost 30 years, and this is important, the Good Friday Agreement, your party trumpets this, and I was a supporter of it, maybe a reluctant supporter of the Good Friday Agreement. But that was referred, that referred to the Offences Against State Act. And the Government stated then that they committed to initiate, and I'm quoting, a wide-ranging reform review of the Offences Against State Act 1939, with a view to both reform and dispensing with those elements no longer required, as the circumstances permit. It's a different world. It's a different world now than 1939, or indeed 1970 or 1980. So the Minister for Justice said last year that the main reason that he believed that the Act should be repealed is that the threats the state faces today have reduced significantly and altered. I agree, right? So it's not a time to confine, it's not time to confine this legislation to the history books or the dustbin, right? While there is a problem with organised crime, there needs to be adequate legislation for that. And there are suggestions there around that. There is technology, there is methods for protecting witnesses. And I understand that's a challenge, you know, for everybody in terms of the organised crime, and particularly the drugs cartel is what they're doing. But all of those options should be utilised, and we should confine this to the history books. I hope that we're not here next year, and I hope you, and I want to welcome you as a new Minister and wish you well in your job, but I hope that next year, that we're not here around this date again, renewing this outdated, draconian piece of legislation. It has been abused in the past, I'm not saying always, but certainly it has been used for political purposes. And that has no place in the Ireland of 2026.
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