Gemma McLoughlin-Burke

The option is among a number of alternatives to abolishing the controversial court, the Irish Examiner reports.

Other measures to reform the three-judge court include implementing video links for juries and using independent barristers to view controversial evidence.

Use of the SCC has gone up in recent years, with a fivefold jump in cases: from 45 in 2015 to 136 in 2020. The increase has been driven by so-called ‘gangland offences’.

Writing in the Irish Criminal Law Journal, barrister Gemma McLoughlin-Burke said there were grave problems around disclosure and admissibility of evidence at the court. These often revolve around the opinion of a chief superintendent – that a person is a member of a terrorist group – being accepted as evidence.

She said gardaí evidence was subject to claims of privilege and that this raised the question of a “dual role” of the court, which decides the admissibility of evidence while also rendering judgment on it.

Ms McLoughlin-Burke noted that the SCC had a 94 per cent conviction rate in 2018, as compared to 38 per cent in the circuit courts and 62 per cent in the Central Criminal Court.

“There is no reason why juries, which are appropriately protected, cannot be introduced into the court,” Ms McLoughlin-Burke said. “This would resolve any issues in relation to the dual role of the court and would improve procedural fairness for accused persons without going so far as to abolish the court in its entirety.”