Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I particularly welcome the people in the Gallery and thank them for coming here and for giving their time because it is a very important part of the process. I value their attendance, as do my colleagues. I would particularly like to acknowledge the enormous amount of work my colleague, Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell, put into this Bill, as did the seconder of it. Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell spoke passionately about it because she fundamentally believes in it. I am only here a few months but I know she is not one to be jumping up and down on every issue but she is passionate about this and she believes in it.

From time to time, legislation requires amendment. People are entitled to bring about change but to suggest it is all rubbish and all bad news is taking it a bit far. This is a process. We have Committee Stage where we can amend legislation. I would appeal to the Minster of State to be open. I would not like to think he came here with the intention of closing this legislative work down. I would be extremely disappointed in the Government and the Minister of State if that was his intention. I am not going to pre-empt or prejudge; I am going to listen to what the Minister of State has to say after he has listened to what we have to say and, hopefully, from that dialogue something may emerge. That is an important point to be made.

This Minimum Custodial Periods upon Conviction for Murder Bill 2017 is being proposed by Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell. According to the explanatory memorandum, it provides for a mechanism whereby a court can, upon passing sentence for murder, determine the amount of time that the offender will spend in prison before that person may be deemed eligible for such considerations as remission of sentence, parole or early release. Let us look at the current law on the release of prisoners who receive a life sentence. Under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1990, there is a mandatory life sentence for murder. This means that a court must impose a life sentence in every case without exception where a person is convicted of murder. A life sentence does not necessarily mean that the person will spend the remainder of their life in prison. In fact, the Law Reform Commission has noted that a person convicted of murder may expect to be released before his or her life sentence expires because the Executive has at its disposal two mechanisms by which it may grant early release to a prisoner serving a mandatory life sentence. The first mechanism available to the Executive for the release of a life sentenced prisoner is the power of special remission. This power stems from Article 13.6 of the Constitution and section 23 of the Criminal Justice Act 1951. Special remission means that an offender is no longer subject to punishment for the offence in respect of which he or she was serving a sentence. This power could be described as a modern version of the royal prerogative of mercy. It is rarely used in practice. That is an interesting point. The most frequently used mechanism used for the relief of life sentenced prisoners is the temporary release. This power is based on the section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1960. It is a discretionary power, thus prisoners have no automatic entitlement to it. It was originally intended to be used for the temporary release of prisoners on compassionate grounds or to help integrate prisoners into the community before release. However, it is not always involved in the primary mechanism for early release for all those serving a life sentence. That is really important. For a breach of any condition of release, a prisoner can expect to be recalled into prison.

In 2016, only four life sentenced prisoners were recalled to prison from the community. To substantiate that, I read a response to a parliamentary question on 24 January 2017, where the Tánaiste and Minster for Justice and Equality advised that in 2016, a total of seven life sentenced prisoners were released and the average length of sentence they had served was approximately 22 years.

I note the Law Reform Commission's recommendations, which are important. In 2013, it recommended by a majority that a mandatory life sentence for murder should be retained. It also recommended unanimously that legislation be introduced which would permit a judge, that is, the judge imposing the life sentence for murder, to recommend a minimum period which the person should serve in custody.

I took the time to look at a number of other jurisdictions, and this relates to the Law Reform Commission's recommendations. In England and Wales, where a court imposes a life sentence, it must make an order for a minimum term to be served before the offender may be considered for release by the parole board. In Scotland, a sentencing court must specify a punishment part to be served by the offender to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence. This period may be any number of years or months even if it is likely for the period to exceed a life sentence. In Canada, the criminal code sets out the periods of those sentenced for life imprisonment and it states that prisoners must serve the period before they are eligible for parole depending on all circumstances, and a minimum 25 year period. In New Zealand, offenders serving life sentence are eligible for parole once ten years of imprisonment has been served without exception.

People have different views but the Minister of State should not close the door. Allow this Bill to go to the next Stage and allow the Members, if they are opposed to it, or have genuine alternatives, to put them forward. Let us tease them out, debate them and vote on them. I thank the Minister of State for his time.