In an opinion piece published in the August/September edition of the Law Society Gazette, Dr Claire Hamilton discusses the majority decision of the Supreme Court in the recent case of DPP v JC [2015] IESC 31 in which the Court held that evidence obtained unconstitutionally can now be admitted where officers of the State (i.e. An Garda Síochána) claim to have no knowledge of the breach.
Writing in her capacity as executive board member of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Claire explains how the majority decision means that the exclusionary rule set out in People (DPP) v Kenny [1990] 2 IR 110, which has been in operation in this jurisdiction for the past twenty-five years, is no longer to be applied.
The opinion piece, entitled ‘Green Guards, Good Faith and the Exclusionary Rule’, can be read in full online (pages 23 – 24).
Dr Claire Hamilton is a Senior Lecturer at Maynooth University Department of Law where she lectures in the Law of Evidence and Constitutional Law.