Coronavirus "emergency powers" have to be monitored and rescinded immediately when no longer necessary to manage crisis

Draconian measures have been undertaken in countries around the world in regard to the coronavirus pandemic. New legislation has been introduced and rushed through many parliaments, without the normal scrutiny, in a bid to enforce unprecedented lockdown measures and physical distancing to slow the spread and death toll from Covid-19. To a large extent many people have accepted the need for emergency powers at this time. However, these powers have more in common with those of a police state rather than a western democracy. It is therefore extremely important that all of these powers come with appropriate protection of peoples rights for the period they are in place.

It is also vitally important that these "emergency powers" are not carried over more than is strictly necessary for dealing with this pandemic. If continued beyond that time we could find that we have slipped into living in a police state.  A state in which a government can issue orders with no legal authority, which will be enforced by the police. Post virus there will be those within the establishment who might find it convenient to keep an all powerful state.

Not least because there are many of those who want to protect their wealth and power. Already the battle lines are being drawn in regard to such people calling for years of austerity after the crisis. Pitched against them are those, such as Mary Lou McDonald leader of Irish political party Sinn Féin, who have made it clear in recent days that "This crisis cannot be used as a pretext for austerity and placing the burden on workers, families and small businesses. We will not be going down that road again."

Below is a recent article that was written by Bernard Moffatt Assistant General Secretary of the Celtic League. In which he points to the dangers of allowing emergency powers to go unchecked during this crisis and the way that these powers have been differently interpreted in the Celtic countries. As he points out " a Police and Legal system without checks and balances is more dangerous than the pandemic it is attempting to contain"!

"WE LIVE IN DANGEROUS TIMES AND NOT JUST FROM PANDEMICS

The Celtic League Assistant General Secretary in this post says allowing emergency powers to go unchecked can pose issues:

The concerns raised by rights groups (see earlier post re ICCL) are apposite given that governments across the Celtic countries have seen fit to introduce sweeping powers for Police Services and the Courts. Most involve hefty fines or imprisonment of fixed penalties. In the Isle of Man for example you can be fined up to £10,000 or sent to jail for three months. The Manx courts have been dispatching folk to prison with some alacrity and it seems the norms of justice (such as social reports etc) are dispensed with. The Isle of Man only has a small prison and it already has a coronavirus case confirmed. Additionally some prison staff are not available because underlying health problems make it inappropriate for them to be deployed.

In Ireland there are harsh penalties including hefty fines (Euro 2500 and up to six months in jail) though we have had no reports of jailings as yet (please message me if you see any recorded). Police in Ireland (26 Counties) are also accused by ICCL of adopting differing stances over protests taking no action in the case of a fisherman protest in the rural South West while cracking down on a protest by workers in Dublin.

Larger societies like Ireland of course have dedicated ‘rights bodies’ (not just ICCL) and a combative legal system used to fighting the corner of those who find themselves up before the courts. But in smaller societies such as Mann legal practices are more skilled at the arts of tax avoidance and VAT management than legal aid.

Of course everyone is concerned to fight and ensure the speedy containment of coronavirus and to do that special measures are required. However emergency powers need to be applied with the protections applicable to Western Democracies - we only have to research the history of OASA to realise what happens when a State loses the plot so to speak. At the moment it's unclear whether in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and the other Celtic countries sufficient safeguards are in place. The quote ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’ (Who will guard the guards themselves) was never more apt..

One Chief Constable (the Isle of Man) has said his officers do not relish having special powers and he hopes to see a return to normality. However in the same jurisdiction a bird watcher out snapping was told he could be ‘locked up’. It's laughable really but no one is laughing!

In the larger Celtic countries a more diverse media can exercise a restraint but once again in the smaller this is not the case where there is a tendency for the media it be ‘in bed’ with the establishment

In Ireland (see earlier post) the ICCL is also querying police procedure rightly questioning if the norms of using OC (or pepper spray) should apply when the ‘target’ may already be in the early stages of a respiratory disease. In other areas no one is speaking out. That's a worry as a Police and Legal system without checks and balances is more dangerous than the pandemic it is attempting to contain!

Image: Celtic countries - Inset Celtic League AGS

Bernard Moffatt

Assistant General Secretary

Celtic League"