Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is work that needs to be done on reporting policy. There is currently a strong focus on the modernisation programme in the Courts Service and one of the biggest challenges in moving to a more digital courts system is the fact the information we have is difficult to collate, is not collected in the same way everywhere and is not necessarily reported on in the same way. Investment and the work of the Courts Service will provide us with a much better system, whereby sentencing, the number and type of cases and any information we need is present in a more structured and formatted way than we currently have. We do not have an appropriate system when it comes to types of cases, types of sentencing and various pieces of information coming into the courts. That is being worked on and a significant investment has been provided in the two most recent budgets.

More generally, in relation to sentencing, what a judge decides in a courtroom is up to the judge but it is the role of us in the Dáil and Seanad to make sure we have appropriate legislation in place. A review of minimum sentencing is under way. There are two or three areas, specifically around drug-related offences, where we have minimum tariffs but, for the most part, we are looking at areas where we have maximum sentences. There are a number of changes afoot, which I mentioned earlier. One involves increasing the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, which is currently five years. I believe it should be higher, specifically in the many domestic violence cases where a person pleads guilty and for a variety of reasons or because the victim has recovered, the sentence can be reduced to two years or even less. That is not appropriate and we are increasing the maximum sentence to ten years.

Conspiracy to murder is another area where we are increasing the sentence. A person may fail in an attempt to kill somebody but the intent is no less there. We are increasing the maximum sentence in such cases to life in prison. We are making sure in the cases of non-fatal strangulation and stalking, which are being made stand-alone offences, that it is clear that these are significant offences. There will be increases in maximum penalties.

Hate crime legislation is being introduced. Where we do not have an aggravating factor or a specific hate crime, this will reflect the severity of this type of crime and we will see an increase in sentencing overall.

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