Senior gardaí want murder trials televised
Senior gardaí today demanded US-style live television coverage of high-profile murder trials and kidnapping cases.
The dramatic plea by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) comes amid mounting frustration over the intimidation of witnesses.
Paschal Feeney, president of AGSI, said traditional court reporting does not capture the antics of feared gangland criminals being tried for serious offences.
“It is high time that the general public became more fully aware of the carry-on in our courts,” he said.
Mr Feeney made the call directly to Sean Power, junior minister at the Department of Justice, during the AGSI 30th annual delegate conference in Trim, Co Meath.
The senior Garda leader said the decision by the Oireachtas some years ago to televise its proceedings provided a precedent for broadcast coverage of the courts.
“I feel it is time now to televise court proceedings involving murder, manslaughter and kidnapping,” he said.
“I acknowledge the excellent work carried out by court reporters all over the country.
“They do an excellent job in reporting much of what goes on in our courts - but they cannot convey the actuality of much of what goes on in the same way as live coverage can.”
Live footage would give the public a better understanding of why gangsters were walking free and spark reform of the judicial process, Mr Feeney argued.
“They should see at first hand the pressures that witnesses and even victims of crime are placed under,” he said.
“They should see the histrionics, the antics and the showmanship and they should also see the venality and, where it exists, the nobility.”
Mr Feeney said broadcasting hearings from the courts of murder, manslaughter and kidnapping trials would get across to the wider public “the extent of witness intimidation”.
“Public knowledge of what goes on in our courts would hopefully lead to beneficial reform,” he said.
“It is well said that justice should not only be done, it should be seen to be done. Let us see it all on our screens.”
Delegates were told that the fight against gangland crime was being hampered by the intimidation of witnesses and that measures including the extended use of the non-jury Special Criminal Court needed to be considered too.
Mr Feeney also used the conference to launch a broadside at the recently established Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) – the force’s independent watchdog.
He said the immediate disclosure by the commission of the identity of officers involved in road crashes was reprehensible.
“Straight away the impression is created in the public mind that the guard is being investigated for some wrongdoing,” he said.
“The member may not even be at fault for the accident but, by being publicly named by the GSOC, is perceived by the public to be under suspicion. This is unfair and should be stopped.”
