Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)

I compliment my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, for introducing this Bill. It is a simple and straightforward Bill to which I cannot find any objection, though I have no doubt the Government will find something and will reintroduce it in six months' time under a different name. I ask the Government not to do that because people are questioning the whole justice system this week, especially today. There is an onus on Members of this House to bring clarity to the justice system. What happened today is amazing to the average person and would not occur in another country. The justice system is complicated and difficult for anybody to understand, including those in this House who are responsible for legislation. There is a duty on us to make it as simple and straightforward as possible. This Bill does that by requiring a list of the type and length of sentences handed down for offences without giving names. We live in the information era where people should be able to press a button to access a list of sentences handed down for drug offences, sexual offences etc. People want information but most of all they want a system in which they can have faith. The events of this week and last have eroded that faith and it is up to us to restore it.

This is a simple Bill, a step in the right direction that will make it easier for all of us to follow what happens in the system. It will give us the opportunity to make use of the information to bring about needed changes in sentencing policies. It allows for the recording of information that is easy to follow. As well as Members, the public will be able to see what sentence a criminal convicted of a certain offence can expect to receive and will know if justice is being done. If the public feels justice is not being done, if sentences are too short or too long, members of the public can bring it to our attention.

The Bill will also enable us to follow the progress of a person's sentence and to know when it will end, by providing for a case number in each case. Professionals from the probation service often arrive at a prison only to find the prisoner they wished to visit has been released for no recorded reason. Those people should be able to tap into the information and find out when a person was released. If a prisoner was released early, they should be able to find out why.

Deputy Jim O'Keeffe made an important point about the necessity for a range of tariffs, which we might be able to discuss at a later date. It would give us an idea what each crime warrants by way of a sentence and would create some sort of system. We cannot tell judges what to do but we can give them our opinion and set standards that are easy to follow. A person's address should not decide his or her sentence. Just because a person lives in Cork and faces a particular judge does not mean he or she should get two years less than somebody living in County Meath.

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