Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In consultation with stakeholders, I created a table which contains a proportionality scale. It was an attempt to look at everything from fines upwards. At present, a person could have a fine or community service period on their record for seven years, although it is minor stuff. It did not feel proportionate to have a blanket seven years. What we attempted to do in the tables was to set a proportionality so whatever sentence a person was given, whether custodial or non-custodial, their waiting period was proportionate to the length of the sentence. For example, if someone only received a sentence of three months, their waiting period would be shorter, and if it was 12 months, the waiting period would be a little longer. It was to set a scale of proportionality.

Again, this is an area of the Bill I am open to looking at and discussing as time goes on. We need to ask are those numbers arbitrary, why they are set as they are, can we improve them and does this need to have a proportionality scale or do we just set a lower blanket of a two or three year waiting period. It was just an attempt by me to look at the seriousness of the crime and the sentence, and the proportion of waiting time. Right now, it is disproportionate that somebody with such a minor offence would have to wait seven years. It was trying to take that into account and to work on that as a principle in terms of whether proportionality should be part of spent convictions.