Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 6, between lines 30 and 31 to insert the following:

"(6) Where as a result of an incompatibility between a statutory provision or rule of law and a Convention provision, or a failure to act in a manner compatible with a Convention provision, a person has been convicted of a criminal offence in circumstances where but for the incompatibility or failure the person would not have been so convicted, or would have been sentenced to a lesser penalty, the person the subject of such conviction or sentence may apply to the Minister pursuant to this section for a recommendation to the Government that the Government should advise the President to pardon the person concerned, or alternatively for a recommendation that the conviction or penalty be commuted or remitted, and the Minister may following such inquiries if any as in his or her discretion he or she sees fit to make, make such a recommendation.".

This amendment was discussed at length on Committee Stage. The Labour Party feels it contains an important principle, that a person who is convicted wrongly should be able to have the conviction overturned in some way. The proposed new clause states that "the person the subject of such conviction or sentence may apply to the Minister pursuant to this section for a recommendation to the Government that the Government should advise the President to pardon the person concerned". We all know of cases of people who have been convicted wrongly. While compensation is an important aspect of such cases, we should also consider the way in which the fact of having been convicted attaches to one's reputation. I am interested in the principle. There should be a system of revisiting criminal convictions in such cases.

Other matters, such as whether there is a statutory precedent in other legislation, were discussed when this amendment was brought forward by my Labour colleagues. A precedent for such an amendment exists in the Criminal Procedure Act 1993. I will be interested to hear the Minister of State's comments on this proposal.