Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)

I have a general problem with the way the Judiciary applies the laws passed by the Oireachtas, particularly with regard to sentencing. The Judiciary is far too lenient in its interpretation of what we are doing, thus not reflecting the message we are sending out from the House. We tried to legislate for ten-year mandatory sentences for those caught with drugs valued at over £10,000 but for some reason this does not seem to be working.

On eight occasions section 3 uses the term "not exceeding" with regard to the number of years imposed in given sentences, be it five years, ten years, two years or four years. We should be saying "at least five years", "at least ten years", "at least two years" and "at least four years". We are giving too much discretion to the Judiciary to be lenient and I would much prefer if we were doing the very opposite.