Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister. The Fianna Fáil Party broadly supports the Bill. Substantial work was done on the framework of the legislation by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the previous Government, Mr. Dermot Ahern. I note also that the Minister acknowledged the Private Members' Bill introduced in the Dáil by Deputy Dara Calleary.

The Bill will bring us close to having a European standard of legislation for dealing with spent convictions for relatively minor matters. Previous legislation, the Children Act 2001, addresses the issue of spent convictions in section 258. I am pleased to note the process of having a conviction spent is self-administered and applies to prison sentences of 12 months or less. I ask the Minister to address a number of queries I have before we proceed to Committee Stage. I understand certain categories of offences are excluded from the provisions of the Bill, including sexual offences, and I do not have a problem with such exclusions. I note in the context of reoffending that not more than two convictions may be spent during an individual's life and the conviction free period that must be served before a conviction will become spent ranges from three years for a small fine to seven years for a one year jail sentence.

As my time is limited, I will raise only two matters which were brought to my attention by individuals in the Cork area. I forwarded information to the Minister on the cases in question. The first is a plea from a recovering gambler who has not gambled in 11 years. I do not propose to name the individual in question. He got into trouble at the age of 23 years in 2000 when he was in the midst of addiction. To his eternal shame he took money to which he had access at work and gambled it over a period. When this was discovered, he was arrested and later received a two year suspended sentence. He has since turned around his life, repaid every penny he took and become a regular member of his local Gambler Anonymous group. He has not gambled for 11 years and argues that it is harsh and unfair that his conviction remains on record given that he fell foul of an addiction to gambling at a young age. Having seen the error and wickedness of his ways, he has, in one sense, expunged his guilt by repaying all the money he took. I am not making light of his actions. The individual in question notes that our nearest neighbours in the United Kingdom have recently passed the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act and recommends that the Minister closely examine circumstances such as his conviction.

Punishment must fit the crime. However, in my experience sentencing for road traffic and minor criminal offences shows a lack of consistency. This is an historical problem for which no fault lies with the Minister. We may be getting closer to a situation where the courts will be inclined to look at precedents, but just as doctors differ and patients die, judges differ in different circumstances also. Some extraordinary decisions have been made in the courts recently and perhaps the Minister might bear this in mind. I understand what he said about the time limits and so on, but that man's case seems to be reasonable and fair. The Minister might look at it and come back to me on it on Committee Stage.

I have received another email from a professional legal person, whom I shall not name, but he has some queries on the Bill. He makes a plea on behalf of a client of his who was convicted a number of years ago for the possession of cannabis. Somebody he knew was staying in his house as a lodger and had a large supply of cannabis. As the property owner at the time, even though he was not dealing himself, he was regarded as being in possession of cannabis, for which he received a five year suspended sentence. He was 20 years old at the time. He fully acknowledged everything put to him and did not deny that he knew at the time that his friend was storing cannabis in the house. He has been of good character since and not come to the attention of the Garda, to use the time honoured phrase. The chief superintendent for the area is prepared to vouch for his integrity and crime free standing. He now has a family and is in secure employment. However, he is anxious to further his career which might involve travelling abroad to engage in further training. The problem is that his conviction would block access to Canada or the United States, and possibly Australia and New Zealand, as the case may be. Even though he received a five year sentence, the important point is that it was suspended and that it occurred when he was at the tender age of 20 years. He has since moved on in life. He was convicted for keeping his mouth shut about something that was of importance to him. Perhaps the Minister might look at this case also.

Another Bill I debated vigorously at the time was the fisheries Bill dating from 2006. Criminal sanctions were introduced for fishermen for log book offences and other relatively minor incursions in terms of quotas. As a result, some young men and their families would have difficulty even in seeking a temporary visa to travel to the United States. The Minister for the Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, assured me that he would look at the possibility of imposing administrative fines for certain fishing offences rather than leaving fishermen with criminal records. Perhaps the Minister might look at that issue also. I will again raise with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the issue of what he proposes to do to update the law. Some of the fishermen involved feel very aggrieved.