A TEMPORARY power that allows gardai to detain drug trafficking suspects for up to seven days is to be made permanent by Dermot Ahern, the justice minister.

The measure is in the Criminal Justice Drug Trafficking Act, which was rushed through the Dail by the rainbow coalition government in 1996 following the murder of Veronica Guerin, a crime reporter.

The legislation, which at the time was considered to be a substantial extension of garda powers, was introduced on a temporary basis at the insistence of the Labour party in order to safeguard civil rights. Its powers have been renewed ever since by the Dail, but are to expire again next month.

Now Ahern has decided to put the law on a permanent footing, following a detailed examination of its enforcement which concluded that its provision had not been abused by gardai. A report prepared for the justice minister found that the legislation had been used 1,711 times since November 2006, but only three suspects had been detained for the maximum period of 120-168 hours.

Instead, the majority of those arrested were questioned for periods ranging in length from six to 24 hours, most released after spending less than six hours in custody.

The number of people charged since November 2006, when the emergency legislation was last renewed, is 1,054. Of these, 279 have been convicted while 697 cases are pending. Some 56 cases were struck out and 22 were withdrawn.

The legislation is regularly used against criminals and traffickers arrested in connection with the seizure of large drug hauls. It allows gardai to detain suspects for long periods while they gather evidence and carry out forensic tests on material recovered from crime scenes.

The garda have told Ahern the provisions of the legislation are of the “utmost importance” in combatting drug trafficking, regarded as the most profitable type of crime.

In recent years, Ireland has become a key transit centre in the supply of drugs into Europe. Earlier this month, the security forces intercepted a yacht, Dances With Waves, off the southwest coast which was found to be carrying 1.7 tonnes of cocaine worth €500m.

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