A sense of justice
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One can see why the original text of Mr Justice Carney's lecture to the UCC Law Library was officially withdrawn. A paper which combines trenchant criticism of the tabloid press, Joe Duffy and the Court of Criminal Appeal can best be described as injudicious, when coming from a senior judge.
It would, however, be a great pity if it were ignored. Mr Justice Carney raises important, difficult issues and has raised them in the context of a particularly difficult case: the killing of young Robert Holohan by a friend, Wayne O'Donoghue, who was convicted of manslaughter after a trial before Mr Justice Carney.
The ostensible problem in this case was that Robert's mother, Majella Holohan, in her victim impact statement, made serious allegations against O'Donoghue which were not proven in court, or even alleged in court.
However this was understandable from a grief-stricken woman.
But there is a much bigger problem than what was clearly an abuse, however understandable, of the victim impact process. Mrs Holohan was unbearably frustrated by the judicial process and could find no other outlet, or even hearing, for her concerns.
And she is not alone. In an equally high-profile case, the mother of Brian Murphy, eloquently, and this time legitimately, expressed her belief that the Irish judicial process is incapable of bringing any sense of justice to the families of crime victims.
This newspaper is quite prepared to accept that the verdicts in these two cases were correct. That is not the issue. The families might even have seen why they were correct, if the criminal justice system were more open, more transparent and could find ways to involve and inform the victims' closest relatives in the preparation of the case.
Certainly, this would be no easy task. Short of changing our legal system completely, the principles of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and innocence until such proof is forthcoming, must remain.
But does that mean the system, whose origins are both obscure and dubious, should have to be so cold, technical and remote in the way it deals with criminal cases?
Many of Mr Justice Carney's trenchant criticisms of the media are well-founded. But the media often seems more in tune with what 21st century citizens are entitled to expect from the law than do many lawyers.
Each criminal case is brought on behalf of "The People". Lawyers and legislators need to find ways to make that more than the cynically empty phrase which too often it seems to be.
