Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 5, line 31, to delete "12 months" and substitute "2 years".

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. On Second Stage I expressed my full support for the Bill and the amendments I have tabled are to strengthen it further. The Bill brings Ireland in line with the rest of its EU partners and the vast majority of the Council of Europe states. It is a mark of a fair, just and compassionate society to have arrangements in law that allow for individuals to put their offending past behind them and move forward with a clean slate. It is in everybody's interest to facilitate and encourage the rehabilitation and reintegration of former offenders into society. My only concern, which my amendments are intended to remedy, is that the Bill, even with the Government amendments, which I take it will be supported and all of which I welcome, is still too restrictive and too conservative to fulfil its purpose.

I will begin by noting that I have no difficulty in supporting a further increase in the maximum limit of sentence to which the spent conviction regime will apply. The "30 months" amendment being put forward by my Sinn Féin colleagues has merit. A review in 2011 of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 by the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom judged the limit of 30 month sentences to be too restrictive.

In response the UK Government, through the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 has reformed the relevant sections of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act by setting the limit at 48 months. This is four times the limit proposed in the Bill.

The UK has a 40 year head start on us with regard to spent convictions legislation. This is not something it has come up with because of five years' experience. After 40 years it has increased the limited to 48 months. During this time the Ministry of Justice in the UK strived to strike the appropriate balance between public safety and reducing barriers to integration for those who have moved on from offending behaviour. We have an opportunity to capitalise on the learning in the UK with the legislation before us.

I support my colleagues in Sinn Féin, whose amendment proposes to extend the limit to 30 months and this keeps with the minimum extension sought by the Irish Penal Reform Trust. I would have preferred to propose 48 months but I thought I would try to strike a middle ground, which is why the amendment proposes two years as a compromise between the 12 months in the Bill which is extremely restricted and prohibitive and the 48 months which has grown out of trust after 40 years of legislation in the UK. I believe two years strikes a good balance as we start out on this journey of recognising spent convictions.