CAT/C/IRL/CO/2
and Add.2). In the light of that information and the replies provided during the most recent
dialogue with the Committee, the Committee considers that its recommendations relating to
the provision of resources and ensuring the independence of the national human rights
institution (now the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission) have been substantially
implemented. The Committee considers that its recommendations to implement the
recommendations contained in the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse,
known as the Ryan report, and to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment at
reformatory and industrial schools operated by religious orders of the Catholic Church,
prosecute and punish perpetrators of such abuse and provide redress to the victims have
been partially implemented (see para. 23 of the present document). The Committee
considers that its recommendations to investigate allegations of ill-treatment of women at
the Magdalen laundries operated by religious orders of the Catholic Church, prosecute
perpetrators and ensure that victims obtain redress and have an enforceable right to
compensation have not been implemented (see para. 25). The Committee considers that its
recommendations relating to the adoption of the Criminal Justice (Female Genital
Mutilation) Bill, implementation of awareness-raising programmes on female genital
mutilation and explicit recognition of female genital mutilation as amounting to torture
have been partially implemented (see para. 33).
Independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty and the Optional Protocol
7.
While noting that the Inspector of Prisons, the Prison Visiting Committees, the
Health Information and Quality Authority and the Inspector of Mental Health have access
to places of detention, the Committee is concerned that:
(a)
The State party has not ratified the Optional Protocol 10 years after signing it,
and has therefore not been able to establish a national preventive mechanism;
(b)
The most recent annual report of the Inspector of Prisons was published in
2014 and covered only 7 out of the 14 prison establishments in Ireland;
(c)
The existing bodies do not systematically carry out visits to all places of
deprivation of liberty such as Garda stations, residential care centres for people with
disabilities, nursing homes for the elderly and other care settings (arts. 2, 11, 16).
8.
The State party should:
(a)
Immediately ratify the Optional Protocol and establish a national
preventive mechanism, ensuring that this body has access to all places of deprivation
of liberty in all settings;
(b)
Ensure that existing bodies which currently monitor places of detention
as well as civil society organizations are allowed to make repeated and unannounced
visits to all places of deprivation of liberty, publish reports and have the State party
act on their recommendations.
Fundamental legal safeguards
9.
The Committee is concerned at reports that fundamental safeguards against torture
for persons deprived of their liberty are not always respected in practice, including reports
that the right to have a legal representative present during police interrogations is not
provided in law and that the police do not consistently keep accurate detention records or
use closed-circuit monitoring of interview rooms. While noting the information provided by
the State party that the right to have a legal representative present during police
interrogations is provided in the police code of practice and is the subject of legislation that
has been enacted but not yet commenced, the Committee is further concerned at the present
lack of an independent authority empowered to monitor conditions of detention in police
stations around the country and that the provision of fundamental safeguards by the police
is not effectively monitored. In this regard, it notes the delegation’s statement made during
the dialogue with the Committee that they were not aware of any case in which a police
officer had been disciplined for failing to provide persons deprived of their liberty with
access to a lawyer (arts. 2, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16).
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