Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy should have no fear. Servants of the State were not required to compile the entirety of this script. The decision on what kind of sentence to impose is a judicial determination and, save only in exceptional circumstances, I hold the view that the Oireachtas should be cautious in prescribing mandatory sentences.

Deputy Jim O'Keeffe is no doubt aware that the Law Reform Commission opposed the idea of statutory guidelines. It is useful to consider what the commission said about non-statutory guidelines. The commission recommended that non-statutory guidelines should be introduced to the effect that the severity of the sentence to be imposed on a person found guilty of an offence should be measured in proportion to the seriousness of the offending behaviour and that the seriousness of the offending behaviour should be measured by reference to the harm caused or risked by the offender in committing the offence and the culpability of the offender in committing the offence.

This comes back to the basic position whereby the law enables the judge to exercise his or her discretion, within the maximum penalty, by reference to the conclusions he or she has reached after trying the case, hearing all the evidence and assessing the culpability and circumstances of the accused. In general, the Minister concurs with the thinking behind these recommendations on statutory guidelines. The point was made in the commission's report that the more detailed the requirements of any statutory sentencing procedure, the more likely it was that mistakes would arise leaving sentences open to challenge on technical grounds only.

While the working group on the jurisdiction of the courts was unable to examine the issue in sufficient depth to make detailed recommendations, it found there was a need for some system of objective guidance for sentencing judges at all levels. One option proposed by the working group could be accommodated within the current system——

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