Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Maloney for raising these important issues, which effectively go to the heart of our penal system and our criminal justice system. They are of interest to the public at large and have great importance to legislators on all sides of this House. It is important they remain in the spotlight and that we continue to reflect on how our criminal justice system works. I hope I have made the position clear in regard to sentencing and I look forward to receiving the report of the penal policy review group in due course.

Within the overall parameters of judicial independence, we need to ensure sentencing is coherent and consistent. Above all, confidence in the system requires that the public believe the sentence is commensurate with the crime. In many cases a sense that it is not commensurate is based on an incomplete picture. The factors taken into account by the judges are not always known to the public and, indeed, are not always reported. A more transparent system that ensures people understand the process and the factors taken into account in sentencing would help and, as I noted earlier, I intend that the Law Reform Commission report will feed into the work of the penal policy review group. I assure the Deputy I am open to any reform that improves the system.

With regard to the issue of sentencing, the Judiciary has done some work in this area. One of the items of legislation standing in line for completion is the judicial council Bill. When the Bill finally comes before the House and is enacted, I hope the judicial council might have regard for the development by the Judiciary of sentencing guidelines to assist judges in sentencing and consistency of sentencing. However, we must always remember when a judge exercises discretion in a particular case that background circumstances can substantially differentiate what may appear on the surface to be two similar cases. This is not always understood.

In regard to fines, we are genuinely on the cusp of an historic reform of the fines system that will make imprisonment for the non-payment of fines the exception rather than the rule. These are important reforms to which the Government committed in the programme for Government and it is my hope that the fines payment and recovery Bill, which is fully drafted and which I hope will be before the Cabinet next week, will be published within the next ten days. It is my objective, with the agreement of the House, that it will be enacted by Christmas and that the new regime will be in place in early 2014. The days of automatically sending those who either cannot or will not pay a fine to prison will be at an end. It is important that those who can afford to pay their fines but fail to do so understand there are consequences for such actions. These consequences may include supervised community service if circumstances are such that an attachment of earnings order may not be appropriate. This is a reform that I hope will be widely welcomed. It will make a significant difference and I look forward to a debate on that Bill taking place in the House shortly after we return from the summer vacation.

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