Prominent criminal defence lawyer Martin Giblin dies aged 73
Mr Giblin was an expert on extradition law. He represented Ian Bailey in his successful 2012 Supreme Court appeal against an order for his extradition to France in connection with an investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996. Bailey, who died last January, always denied involvement in the murder.
Mr Giblin also defended Osgur Breathnach, who received State compensation after his conviction for the 1976 Sallins mail train robbery was overturned in 1980 on appeal on the basis that statements were taken from him under duress.
Mr Breathnach and two others accused of the robbery alleged they signed statements after being beaten by gardaí during interrogations.
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Mr Giblin represented members of the McBrearty family in Co Donegal, whose treatment by gardaí was among matters inquired into by the Morris tribunal, established in 2002 on foot of complaints about activities of some gardaí in the Donegal division in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Mr Giblin acted for Frank McBrearty jnr following the false identification of him and his cousin Mark McConnell as the main suspects concerning the 1996 death of a cattle dealer, Richie Barron. Gardaí wrongly treated Barron's death, following a hit-and-run incident, as a murder inquiry and the tribunal described the subsequent investigation as 'an extraordinary shambles'.
Frank McBrearty jnr received a €1.5 million settlement for wrongful arrest and a State apology following negotiations with the State in which Mr Giblin played a central role.
Mr Giblin was called to the Bar in 1974. He was a native of Dublin and became a senior counsel in 1996, specialising in criminal defence work.
During the 1970s, he represented several women who opposed the renewal of licences for 'men only' bars and pubs refusing to serve women.
He was a senior member of the legal team representing the Irish Haemophilia Society at the Lindsay tribunal, established in 1999 to investigate the infection of haemophiliacs with hepatitis C and HIV through contaminated blood products supplied by the Blood Transfusion Service Board.
Mr Giblin was among several lawyers who came together in 2004 to protest against the visit of then US president George Bush to Ireland. The protest was over the United States's involvement in the Iraq War.
Mr Giblin, who had suffered illness in recent years, died in Dublin on Friday, surrounded by his family.
He is survived by his wife Maura, sons Cian, Fergus, Cillian and Ruaidhrí, four grandchildren, his sisters Anne and Bridget and extended family.
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Irish Times
6 minutes ago
- Irish Times
A night with Dublin's taxi drivers: ‘If somebody decides to run, you can't control it'
Shortly after midnight, Haider Zaman is parked on Balfe Street in Dublin 's city centre, presumably waiting on someone in the nearby Bruxelles bar to call it a night. He is more than halfway through his shift as a taxi driver and will likely continue until 3am or 4am, depending on the amount of work available. 'I would love to leave this as soon as my kids start going to school,' he says. The 32-year-old father of two young children originally moved to Ireland from Pakistan in 2007. READ MORE He has been working as a taxi driver for nearly two years, saying it is a 'really tough job' but one that provides flexibility and allows him to help out with the children at home. He works 80, and sometimes 90, hours each week, he says. The money he makes from the first 40 or so hours offsets costs associated with the job, including rent for his car, insurance, petrol and weekly cleaning. Taxi driver Haider Zaman: 'I don't want to fall into a situation to try save €50 or €60 worth of fare where they could stab me and still run away.' Photograph: Jack White 'That means I need another 40 hours to cover the same amount to bring home, I literally have to.' One of his app accounts, through which members of the public can book rides, was recently suspended for 10 hours after a passenger reported him for having a faulty seat belt, he says, still frustrated at the thought of it. 'I found out the belts were fine and she was plugging it into the wrong one.' Unlike others who spoke to The Irish Times on a recent Wednesday night, he has 'thankfully' never been attacked while working. He has, however, like seemingly all drivers, experienced 'a lot of runners' – or those who leave the vehicle without paying. There is 'no way to control it', he says, describing the loss of significant fares, in particular, as 'devastating'. 'You can't tie anybody to your car, even using a child lock. If somebody decides to run, they come prepared, and I don't want to fall into a situation to try save €50 or €60 worth of fare where they could stab me and still run away.' There have been moments where he was close to being 'battered out', he says, noting on one occasion a man, who refused to pay on arriving at Newbridge, Co Kildare, from Tallaght hospital, phoned two of his friends to come outside. 'Luckily, he got out before his friends arrived and I was able to lock my taxi. I asked if he could at least pay me something, and they all came together and started hammering the car, kicking the car and told me to get out of there,' he says. 'I had no choice, that was an €80 loss of fare and I had to come back to Dublin. There's nothing you can do, you can't force people to pay.' The recent attacks on Indian men in Ireland are provoking a palpable sense of anxiety among some taxi drivers. Photograph: iStock Several drivers remarked how taxi drivers are 'vulnerable' and 'easy targets' due to the nature of their work, unsure of who is sitting behind them or what their intentions are. 'It could be a criminal, a murderer or it could be the nicest person in the world, it could be anybody,' says Zaman. The vast majority of those working late at night, who spoke to The Irish Times, are originally from abroad, and feel as though they are being 'targeted'. They list off recent assaults and attacks on Indians living in the capital as examples, such as that of a man who was violently assaulted and partially stripped by a group in Tallaght on July 19th. Others mentioned the violent assault of Dr Santosh Yadav, who said he was left 'bleeding everywhere' after being attacked from behind by a group of teenagers in Clondalkin on July 27th. 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Irish Times
6 minutes ago
- Irish Times
CCTV finally installed to catch dumpers in Dublin's worst litter black spot
CCTV cameras, due to be erected last January to catch illegal dumpers in Dublin's north inner city, have finally been installed. Dublin City Council last September announced plans to use CCTV to identify illegal dumpers for the first time in almost a decade. The north inner city is regularly ranked the dirtiest area in the State. Three streets in the area were chosen as pilot locations for the scheme: Belvedere Place, Sherrard Street Lower and Summer Street North. New CCTV cameras have been installed on three streets in Dublin's north inner city to catch illegal dumpers. Photograph: Olivia Kelly These streets, off the North Circular Road close to Mountjoy Square, are in Dublin's worst litter black spot, regularly cited as the State's dirtiest urban area by anti-litter organisation Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal). READ MORE The council had planned to install the CCTV last January, but the project was delayed after it emerged the cameras could not be attached to existing public lighting poles, as had been planned by the waste management division. Some cabling powering street lights also powered traffic lights, and the council's lighting section was concerned that vandalism to the cameras could 'knock out the traffic lights', Barry Woods, the council's head of waste management, told councillors earlier this year. New poles have instead been erected on the three streets and have been equipped with solar-powered cameras. The cameras have been switched on in recent days and are now 'fully operational', the council said. Signs warning that the cameras are in use for the 'prevention, deterring, detection and prosecution' of illegal dumping have been attached to each pole. Illegal dumpers face fines of €150 or up to €4,000 if convicted in the District Court. A new CCTV camera has been installed on Belvedere Place to catch illegal dumpers. Photograph: Olivia Kelly On Wednesday morning, the three streets appeared to be free of any obvious illegally-dumped bags or other significant signs of fly-tipping, although some litter had accumulated on Sherrard Street Lower in a gap between newly installed planters and the footpath. The council used CCTV a decade ago to combat illegal dumping, with significant success achieved in reducing litter levels. In 2014, it began installing CCTV at litter black spots, mostly in the north inner city, as part of a crackdown on dumping. It subsequently erected a poster featuring 12 dumpers with their faces blurred. However, the move aroused the attention of the Data Protection Commission , which questioned the proportionality of the scheme and the dumpers' rights to privacy. The commission in 2018 undertook an investigation of CCTV use by local authorities nationally and concluded that existing litter pollution and waste management law did not provide for using CCTV to identify dumpers. New legislation, the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022, amended the Litter Pollution Acts to allow CCTV use. The council spent two years working with various State agencies to develop a new scheme. Data-protection impact assessments were subsequently approved for the three pilot streets. Following the north inner-city pilot, the council plans to extend CCTV to bottle and textile banks, where there is a high level of illegal dumping, before considering some suburban areas for the scheme.
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Policing the traffic
Sir, – As a retired orthopaedic surgeon I have spent a considerable amount of my professional life dealing with road traffic victims. According to the recent, as yet unpublished Crowe report, 'gardaí working in road policing were openly 'hostile' towards doing their jobs', In most instances policing for speeding and 'jumping' red lights can be fully automated with existing technology, freeing up gardaí for other duties. All roads in London and other English cities are monitored by such technology. My daughter recently received a speeding ticket in London for driving at 21 mph in a 20mph zone! READ MORE Over the past year, having driven some 7,000 miles, I am aware of only seeing two speed vans. As a so-called country designated for hi-tech we remain in the dark ages. – Yours, etc, JAMES M SHEEHAN(FRCS), Blackrock, Co Dublin.
