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Witness protection program5/17/2023 ![]() ![]() This suggests that these witnesses are used few and far between. There are few judicial decisions dealing with the use of witnesses in the WPP. The Programme was developed in response to gangland crime in the late 1990s and has been criticised for its lack of transparency and its potential to incentivise witnesses to give favourable evidence in return for government protection and/or more favourable sentences. Its terms and the assessment as to how one becomes eligible are unknown, leaving one to wonder how it actually works, who makes the decision to permit witnesses into the Programme and what safeguards are in place to ensure witnesses remain impartial and truthful in giving their evidence. ![]() Ireland’s WPP has no basis in statute and is in fact run and funded by An Garda Síochána. This posed questions such as (i) what is the WPP and, (ii) in return for indefinite governmental protection and financial backing, can these witnesses’ evidence be trusted? Announced mere days before Mr Hutch’s trial was due to begin, this was surprising to many with questions being asked as to what protections Mr Dowdall would receive from the State in return for becoming a State witness. Ireland’s Witness Protection Programme (“WPP” “the Programme”) has received a lot of renewed interest in recent weeks as Jonathon Dowdall will enter the WPP following his decision to give evidence as a State witness in the trial of Gerard Hutch. ![]()
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