Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Reforming the law is a tedious and slow business, but I must acknowledge that in the short period he has been in office, it looks as if the Minister might prove to be the most reforming justice Minister in the history of the State. That is to be welcomed because the legal process needs to be changed in the modern world. We need to tackle the perception which I consider to be true that the law is in place for the better-off, not the ordinary person. I am particularly interested in the system that operates in England and Wales, in which the Sentencing Council is made up of eight judges who represent all courts and six lay people with specialist knowledge. They have the role of promoting consistency in sentencing and informing the public about the factors that are taken into account by judges in formulating sentences.

I agree with the Minister that judges have to retain discretion. I do not think the law would work without a separation between legislators and judges.

The sentencing council for England and Wales has drawn up guidelines for sentencing which outline all the factors to be taken into account when judges pass a sentence. That is a radical initiative. The guidelines are contained on a single page which judges fill out at the time of the court case and forward to the sentencing council for analysis and use in the promotion of consistency. All of us want consistency in the application of the law. I referred earlier to rape cases in which people believe they can buy their way out of sentences and the thorny issue of corporate misdemeanours and white collar crime, which we have failed to address in this country.

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