Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is a short one, brought forward in response to a recent High Court decision. It is not right or proper to discuss the circumstances of the case but, for clarity, the case revolves around a conflict between the mandatory sentence for murder applied to adults of 18 years and over. Section 156 of the 2001 Act states a child cannot be sentenced or committed to prison. This conflict was highlighted in a recent case in which the accused was convicted as a minor but turned 18 prior to sentencing, thus becoming liable for a mandatory life sentence. This showed a clear distinction based on age and violates constitutional equality rights under Article 40.1, according to the judgement of Mr. Justice Garret Simons. He made the point that although the current age of the offender does not diminish the culpability of the offender, the Legislature, having made a policy choice to exempt certain juvenile offenders from mandatory life sentence, should ensure it is reflected in legislation which complies with the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law. We are the Legislature and we now have to address this conflict. The moral culpability of children for criminal offences is a difficult area, one that needs to be dealt with without hysteria.

It should be noted – Deputy Howlin's amendment makes this explicit – that it would of course be perfectly possible for a judge to sentence a person to whom this Bill applies to a very lengthy sentence, or one as long as, if not longer than, what life sentences end up being. We in Sinn Féin support legal certainty in sentencing, especially in cases involving circumstances such as these.

There are wider issues concerning the coercion of children into criminal activity. The Government's position is that the maximum sentence should be five years. We stated in our previous Private Members' proposal that the sentence should be 12 years. Clearly, there are issues if such serious crimes are being committed by minors. As with all crimes, the reasons are complex.

Deputy Munster mentioned the Garda. For a very long time in this Chamber, I have been asking the Minister for extra gardaí in my constituency, Kildare South. As far as I can see, crime is on the rise and we are doing nothing about it.

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