Anti-social law move fails

Northern Ireland's children's commissioner has failed to prevent the government from introducing planned new laws on anti-social behaviour.

At the High Court on Wednesday, Mr Justice Girvan refused leave to apply for a judicial review of moves to bring Northern Ireland into line with England and Wales by introducing Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).

The planned laws are being brought in to deal with problems like underage drinking and vandalism, and can be applied for by police, councils and the Housing Executive.

ASBOs could be applied to children over the age of ten.

The commissioner, Nigel Williams, brought the action because he felt the proposed move would interfere with young people's rights of privacy.

The commissioner's lawyer had argued that if young people were named in court they might become victims of "paramilitary justice" and accused Criminal Justice Minister John Spellar of rushing the legislation through parliament without adequate consultation.

'Social problem'

In his reserved judgment, Mr Justice Girvan said Mr Spellar had to decide, in the light of all the submissions and issues, whether the legislation should be introduced to deal with what he legitimately considered to be a social problem.

"There can be no support for a proposition that in some way the commissioner's view should have carried the day or that the minister was bound to accord them any greater weight than he considered they were entitled to receive," said the judge.

A spokesman for the commissioner said he regretted the refusal of the application for a judicial review into the way the government consulted on the proposed introduction of ASBOs.

"The commissioner has lodged a complaint with the Equality Commission on the issue of introducing anti-social behaviour orders," he said.

"We await the outcome of that complaint before deciding on further action."