LEGISLATION ALLOWING “justifiable force” by a homeowner against an intruder will be law by Christmas, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said.
The Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Bill states that reasonable force can result in the death of the intruder in certain circumstances.
Publishing the Bill yesterday Mr Ahern denied it was a “licence to kill”. He said it was for the courts to decide whether any force was justifiable or not.
It is a “restatement of existing law” redressing the balance in favour of the house owner “but at the same time it is not allowing the house owner to use gratuitous violence against an intruder”.
The Bill specifically provides that homeowners “don’t have to retreat from their houses, that they can stand their ground and they can use reasonable force”.
It also provides that a homeowner using reasonable force cannot be liable for damages if an intruder is injured as a result.
Fine Gael welcomed publication of the Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Bill, but said the delay was unacceptable and it was regrettable Mr Ahern waited until the Dáil recess to publish the legislation.
The Labour Party has described the clarification of the law as necessary but will look at the detail of the provisions and examine them carefully.
Sinn Féin had no “major problem” with the thrust of the Bill but would wait to see it in detail before declaring a party position in the Dáil.
But justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said “we need to be very careful that we don’t send out a message that would encourage people to potentially risk their own safety by confronting intruders in their homes or on their property”.
Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) Mark Kelly said only that they “will closely study these proposals in order to establish whether they are human-rights compliant”.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Alan Shatter said the Bill was a fundamental reform that was “badly needed for many years”, following the circumstances of 2004 which resulted in the prosecution of Pádraig Nally, he said.
He hoped it was not just “another midsummer’s public relations stunt but that it will receive the priority it deserves”.
Mr Shatter said the legislation could have been put in place a long time ago had the Government accepted the 2006 Private Members’ Bill introduced by Fine Gael’s Jim O’Keeffe or the Bill introduced last year by Charlie Flanagan.
But Mr Ahern has said he could not accept either Bill because they were “legally defective”. The legislation has to be “as watertight as possible”.
Mr Shatter said the concept of reasonable force is important for the protection of the homeowner but also so that “there won’t be lynch mobs either”; that an individual can prevent the commission of a crime and assist in effecting a lawful arrest.
Labour spokesman Pat Rabbitte said “it’s a sorry commentary on what we have become as a society that this clarification of the law is necessary.
“We need to look at the detail of this as it falls somewhere between present law and the Law Reform Commission’s proposals.”
The Labour Party abstained when the two Fine Gael Private Members’ Bills were introduced in the Dáil.
Mr Rabbitte said careful consideration would have to be given to the provisions that “if the court so accepts, a fatality can be deemed reasonable force”.
Mr Ó Snodaigh said “while everybody is entitled to defend themselves it would always be advisable that a confrontation be avoided as much as possible and the gardaí be called as a priority”.
The Bill “will not act as some sort of magic wand and make these crimes disappear”, he said.
