David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 8, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:“(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (7):

“(7A) Where a child is convicted of an offence and a period of detention is imposed on the child by a court, the period of detention shall not exceed the term of detention or imprisonment that the court could have imposed on a person of full age and capacity who is convicted of such an offence, and may be less. The Court shall have regard to the age, level of maturity, best interests of the child and principle of imprisonment as a last resort in determining the nature of any penalty imposed.”.”.

I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 1 and 3. We have only submitted a handful of the amendments that we submitted on Committee Stage because we have taken on board the Minister's views on some of the issues. However, the amendments we have tabled are those on which we have been lobbied and on which we have strong views ourselves. We believe they would strengthen the Bill and that is why we have resubmitted them on Report Stage.

I will set out our position on amendment No. 1, as I did on Committee Stage. We note that section 8 amends section 149 of the Children Act 2001 and provides that where a child is convicted of an offence, the period of detention imposed on a child should not exceed that which the court would have imposed on an adult. While it is noted that the purpose of the section is to give consideration to the principle of equality of treatment between children in detention schools and adults in the prison system, given the importance of the principle that detention should be a last resort for children we recommend that this provision be amended to more closely reflect the spirit and wording of section 96 of the Children Act 2001.

I will set out the rationale for amendment No. 3. Section 8 provides that where a period of detention greater than three years is imposed on a child, a court must give its reasons for doing so in open court. It is of note that the original Children Act 2001 provision, before it was amended by the 2006 Act, contained an upper limit and did not permit a court to impose a sentence on a child in excess of three years. Therefore, we suggest that the proposed section 149(2) be amended. We are making this submission in light of recommendation 33 of the strategic review group on penal policy as published in September 2014, which states:

The Review Group recommends that, in all cases where a custodial sentence is imposed by a court, the court should set out its reasons in writing for so doing. The Group further recommends that this requirement be incorporated in statute.

As far back as February 2003 the Law Reform Commission recommended that a District Court judge should be required to give concise written reasons for any decision to impose a custodial sentence. The strategic review group considered whether this requirement would constitute a significant additional burden on the courts and concluded that it would not. The obligation to provide reasons already exists. This recommendation simply requires that those reasons are recorded in writing. In a case where the liberty of a child is at stake it is imperative that there is clarity around the rationale for such a significant decision. Such a statutory provision would promote consistency in sentencing and bring clarity and transparency not only to the courts but to victims, offenders, legal practitioners and the public as well.