Results 1,601-1,620 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I would like to deal with that point because it is important that the public are not misled by the Deputy on this issue. The position is that the decision that was arrived at today is subject to appeal. Were that decision to stand, however, it would stand only by virtue of the fact that it is an essential and necessary consequence of the Supreme Court decision. It has nothing to do with the...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Deputy Naughten took the latitude of commenting on that issue. It is a serious one because if it is the view that these persons have to be set at liberty, it is because the Supreme Court has decided that the section of this Act became spent in 1937. It did not become spent at a Government meeting last week or in a statement made on the Order of Business by the Taoiseach this afternoon.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Supreme Court made a decision last week and we have to address its consequences. Under our Constitution, we cannot retroactively declare conduct to be offences which were not offences at the time of their commission.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: All that remains for us to do is to provide a sound legislative framework in this area for the future. I have no doubt that the Government and the House will express their views on that in due course.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As regards the cases that are already in the courts system——

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Deputies are well aware of the fact that the trial, conviction and punishment of criminal matters are exclusively reserved for the courts. They are not matters in which we can interfere.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: So there is no point in demanding emergency sessions to plug loopholes that we do not have power to plug.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: There are important issues we can address, however, and the Taoiseach has made it quite clear that he is prepared to recall the House to address them. I want to refer to the question of registers of offenders, which Deputy Naughten understandably and rightly raised. In truth, there is no register of offenders as such in this State. There are two distinct and very different processes. One...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——pending the outcome of work which has been undertaken by a working group established by the board of the Courts Service on sentencing.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Bill has two functions, first, to create a comprehensive register of sentences; and, second, to introduce greater transparency to the sentencing process within the criminal justice system. I certainly agree that these are worthy objectives. The Bill details the information that would be required in the register, which would be subject to the Freedom of Information Acts. It also provides...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Looking at the bigger picture, we all agree that few aspects of our criminal justice system generate as much controversy as the sentences handed down by our courts. From time to time there are cases which attract particular public attention which result in sentences which may be generally regarded as too harsh or too lenient or as inconsistent with sentences given in what are regarded as...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Sentencing is a complex matter and, as the Deputy is aware, there are many variable factors to be taken into account in each case. To address this issue, the board of the Courts Service established a steering committee in October 2004 to plan for and provide a system of information on sentencing. The initiative of the board is designed to provide some systemic form of information as a...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The membership of the committee comprises Mrs. Justice Susan Denham as chairperson, Mr. Justice Kevin O'Higgins, Mr. Justice Esmond Smyth, Judge Miriam Malone, President of the District Court, and Professor Tom O'Malley. The steering committee reviewed sentencing systems worldwide and identified those of Scotland and New South Wales as the most relevant to our situation. Professor Cyrus Tata,...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: They are very dangerous people. It is proposed the orders will be available in circumstances where the offence is a scheduled offence——

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——certain lesser offences under public order legislation and the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, and the court considers it appropriate to impose a sentence of three months or more. A restriction of movement order may impose such restrictions as the court thinks fit including a requirement that the offender be in a specified place at a certain time. The period for which an...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ln this regard, the Minister is also providing that the granting of temporary release from prison can be subject to the restriction of movement and electronic monitoring. As I mentioned earlier, the traditional approach to sentencing is for the Oireachtas to lay down by law the maximum penalty appropriate to a particular offence and for the courts, having considered all the circumstances of a...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Or Ard-Fheis guidelines.

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Statutory guidelines would involve an undue interference in the independence of the Judiciary. The decision on what kind of sentence to impose is a judicial determination, not an Ard-Fheis determination——

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Deputy should have no fear. Servants of the State were not required to compile the entirety of this script. The decision on what kind of sentence to impose is a judicial determination and, save only in exceptional circumstances, I hold the view that the Oireachtas should be cautious in prescribing mandatory sentences. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe is no doubt aware that the Law Reform Commission...

Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (30 May 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——the more effective dissemination of decisions which are regarded as being authoritative in nature, especially decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeal. I understand the Courts Service and Supreme Court Judiciary are operating a pilot database of judgments of the Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeal which has been launched on the Courts Service website along with High Court judgments.