David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 56:

In page 9, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:"9. Where in respect of a person who has a conviction which is, in accordance with this Act, regarded as a spent conviction, a state other than the State requests information in respect of a citizen's criminal record, any conviction which is deemed to be spent shall not appear in the response of the State, save where there is a specific enquiry in relation to spent convictions.".

Deputy Olivia Mitchell and I have jointly tabled this amendment. Deputy Mitchell sends apologies for her absence, which was unavoidable as she is on Oireachtas business elsewhere. She also asked me to speak on the amendment on her behalf.

This is groundbreaking legislation. Other jurisdictions passed spent convictions legislation many years ago and Ireland is one of the few countries that have not yet done so. As such, the Bill, on which we in the Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality did some work, is very welcome.

The issue is that spent convictions operate mainly by self-declaration; after a certain amount of time, a person may declare whether he has a conviction. In many cases the person can say he does not, because any conviction is deemed to have been spent. Moreover, the Garda will not divulge in many cases if someone has a spent conviction. I know that in some countries where this has been in vogue for a long time, one country recognises the spent conviction of another country.

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