Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Constitution rightly provides for the separation of powers between the Judiciary and the Legislature, but the people are sovereign and their interests are not being served in many of the sentences being handed down in the courts. We need to hold the Judiciary to account. Judges cannot be a law unto themselves; they need to be held to account. In fairness to the Judiciary, the judicial council would be a mechanism to do this. I asked whether the Minster could incorporate a sentencing council into the judicial council, but we do not have even have that Bill before us. It has been another wasted opportunity. We have had another full Government term of almost five years with no reform of the way sentencing is dealt with by the courts or the way judicial appointments are made. Whoever drafted the response talks about the Judiciary being independent. However, judges are also accountable but not according to the Government. We are wrapping up in the House. We have a few more weeks left and will be into an election campaign in the new year. This is a massive failure on the part of the Department and the Government in the past five years. I have put forward a good model that is used in England and Wales and which is democratic, fair and accountable. However, I am being lectured by departmental officials who have utterly failed in their responsibility to reform judicial sentencing and guidelines in the State.

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