John Waters and Gemma O’Doherty tell court that Covid-19 laws are ‘effective suspension’ of constitutional rights



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John Waters and Gemma O’Doherty told the Superior Court that the laws introduced by the State due to the Covid-19 pandemic are “unprecedented” and amount to an “effective suspension” of constitutional rights.

In judicial review procedures against the State and the Minister of Health, they seek that several recently enacted laws, which they believe are unconstitutional and defective, be annulled by a judge of the Superior Court.

The Superior Court has ordered that your request for permission to present your challenge be heard in the presence of the defendants.

Both the State and the attorneys representing Dáil, Seanad and Ceann Comhairle, who are notified parties in the process, affirm that the court should not allow them to present the challenge and that the case should be dismissed.

The preliminary request to determine if the permit should be granted began today before Judge Charles Meenan.

‘Very important for all citizens’

In their court appearances, Ms. O’Doherty and Mr. Waters said the laws that had been introduced, and the way they were enacted, are disgusting to various articles of the Constitution, including the right to travel, bodily integrity and family.

Waters said the problems he and Mrs. O’Doherty were raising were very important to all citizens. He said the laws introduced on Covid-19 amount to a suspension of constitutional rights.

The laws, he said, keep people in their homes and have resulted in the closure of parks and beaches.

Waters said he agreed with comments from former British Supreme Court Justice Lord Sumption, who described the restrictions in force in the United Kingdom, which Waters said are similar to those in Ireland, as worse than what was imposed in the United Kingdom during the World. War 2.

Referring to the economic impact of the restrictions, he said he feared the country might find itself back where it was in 1929, when the Wall Street Crash caused an economic depression in the country.

Waters also told the court that they do not accept the accuracy of the number of deaths in the state attributable to Covid-19, due to the way those deaths are officially recorded.

How to live ‘in Nazi Germany’

Ms O’Doherty, who said she is an award-winning journalist who had done a great job covering health issues, said the laws had empowered the Gardaí to harass people when they came out and kept citizens en masse. house arrest.

During his court appearances, he compared the restrictions to the fact that he liked living “in Nazi Germany,” where people were required to carry papers with them at all times.

This, she said, was detrimental to people’s health, including the fact that keeping them indoors they didn’t get enough vitamin D.

He also told the court that the state grounds for introducing the laws are “scientifically fraudulent” and that evidence to that effect would be presented at the full hearing of his action.

Mr. Waters also told the court that the case more than met the legal threshold required by the court to allow the challenge to proceed to a full hearing.

He and Ms. O’Doherty also have the legal capacity to present the case, as they have been personally affected by the challenged laws, he said.

In their action, Ms. O’Doherty and Mr. Waters have challenged the legislation, including the 2020 Health Conservation and Protection and other emergency measures in the Public Interest Act, the 2020 Emergency Measures Act. in the Public Interest Law Covid-19, the Health Law of 1947 (Affected Areas) Order.

Its procedures also aim to eliminate the temporary restriction regulations introduced due to Covid-19 under the Health Act of 1947.

The state represented by Patrick McCann SC, who appears with Gerard Meehan Bl, opposes the license application and says the claims are not debatable.

The Dáil, Seanad, and Ceann Comhairle, which have been added as parts of the notice to action because part of the challenge concerns how the laws were enacted, and represented by Francis Kieran Bl, also oppose licensing. .

As was the case when the matter was brought up in court last week, there was strict security and a large Garda presence around the Four Courts complex.

About 40 supporters of the two journalists remained outside the barriers erected by the gardaí near the courtroom where the case is being heard.

Only a limited number of people were able to enter the court due to the conditions of social distancing imposed by the Court Service.

The hearing continues tomorrow Wednesday.

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