Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 8, to delete line 21 and substitute “Amendment of Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997”.

The substantive amendments are amendments Nos. 4 and 6, so I will deal with the others briefly.

Amendment No. 3 renames Part 4 to reflect its wider scope, while amendment No. 17 relates to a consequential change to the Long Title.

Amendment No. 4 increases the maximum penalty for the offence of assault causing harm from five years' to ten years' imprisonment. I spoke about this issue in detail on Second Stage. I am introducing this measure to ensure we have an appropriate range of sentences available for this offence.

As it stands, an assault that causes harm usually carries a maximum sentence of only five years. While a life sentence can be imposed for an assault causing serious harm, that covers only a very limited subset of the worst assaults. Most assaults can be prosecuted only at the lower levels, especially where the victim has fully or mostly recovered. Those assaults may involve stabbing, broken bones, multiple perpetrators, deliberate infliction of severe pain, attacks against vulnerable persons or attacks causing long-term mental detriment. Even where a judge considers the offence as among the most serious, he or she is limited in his or her sentencing to five years and may have to reduce that further to reflect mitigating factors such as a guilty plea. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and others have raised concerns that the five-year maximum penalty is too low, given the gravity of the harm caused, and it is apparent that the maximum sentence has been used repeatedly by the courts as a starting point for calculating a sentence before mitigating factors are taken into account. This is unusual compared with other offences, where the maximum sentence is usually reserved for the most exceptional cases. For more serious offences falling under section 3, the five-year maximum penalty is lower than would apply in other jurisdictions and lower than comparable Irish theft and criminal damages offences. Both these carry maximum penalties of ten years.

The purpose of this change is not to increase every single sentence. Under section 3, courts will continue to weigh the gravity of the offence and the appropriate aggravating and mitigating factors, but they will have a more appropriate range of sentences available. As I have said many times, the vast majority of domestic violence cases that are taken fall under this category of penalty, where we have seen a maximum of five years applied. Because of the mitigating factors, however, the sentences are significantly reduced, and I do not think they reflect the seriousness of the crime in many instances.

The penalty for the new offence of non-fatal strangulation is aligned with that for assault causing harm. Amendment No. 6 increases the maximum penalty for that offence in order that there is a ten-year maximum sentence.