James Breen (Clare, Independent)

The concept and principles behind the Bill are praiseworthy and I commend Deputy Jim O'Keeffe on the work he has put into its preparation. However, in practical terms, building and maintaining such a database would not be feasible and it would never be complete or up-to-date. Aside from the fact that the outcome of certain cases cannot be put on public record owing to the in camera rule, it would be impossible, first, to record all the factors produced in mitigation by the defence in every court case and, second, know every detail that contributed to a judge arriving at a sentence.

As others stated, a database of sex offenders is maintained in Harcourt Square, but this database is not up to date weekly and it could take anything up to a month before some court areas transmit necessary convictions to the unit responsible for maintaining the database. There is no realistic hope of the Courts Service comprehensively updating such a database weekly or even monthly.

Another fear I have in regard to the existence of such a database is that it might become too easy for a judge who is having difficulty in reaching a fair sentence in a case to decide on a sentence based on another case in such a database when all the relevant factors in that case might not have been recorded in the database in the first place. A fear of not being consistent with his colleagues might overtake a fair hearing as the main deciding factor in sentencing.

Judgments which make first-time offenders think twice about their actions and deter them from re-offending could be lost under such a proposed system, especially in the District Court. I accept that any measure that improves sentencing standards and consistency across the Judiciary would be welcome but a better means of achieving that would be more regular training and information seminars for judges, with judges specialising in the various aspects of law sitting at every court level, unlike the present situation where the same District Court judge often hears family law cases, civil cases, licensing applications, road traffic offences, other criminal matters and small claims court cases.

I again commend Deputy Jim O'Keeffe on his preparation. I wish such innovative thinking could be found on the Government benches.

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