Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the opportunity to address the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality on an issue that is very important to me and to many people, particularly those who have small businesses who have been hurt by it.

It might come as a shock to people who are unfamiliar with the court and legal system that every person who stands up and swears or affirms an oath before a judge does so with no real reality of facing criminal prosecution if they are later to be have been found deliberately telling lies. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of how the court system operates knows that every week there are many people swearing an oath and telling lies before the court.

Contrary to popular belief it is not just the person who is relaying the event or speaking about his or her injuries who is telling lies under oath. It is also well-heeled people, big corporations and sometimes people in banking and institutions who present affidavits to say that they are repossessing houses, quite frankly without those affidavits being properly checked to be foolproof and without any repercussions. It is a very significant issue.

In spite of this day-to-day practical reality of court life in both our criminal and civil court systems, including in some cases where judges have gone so far as identifying facts that could give rise to a perjury investigation, according to figures supplied to me by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, there are few or no recorded instances of perjury taking place. I have a figure supplied by the Garda Síochána to the CSO for the past ten years. There have been only 31 recorded instances of perjury, with not a single incident of perjury recorded in the past year, by way of example.

Does anybody seriously believe that in the past decade there were just 31 instances of perjury in Irish courts? Most decent people, if asked to swear an oath before a court, recognise the symbolic significance of what they are about to say in court before a judge, but with so many proceedings going on through our court system on affidavit with no oral evidence whatsoever, I question how seriously this oath is taken in the absence of a threat of legal prosecution.

I am sure the Minister of State will remind me that perjury is a common law criminal offence in Ireland, which is true, but the statistics speak for themselves. Not a single incidence of perjury was recorded last year. My view, and this view is shared by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association, ISME, and also by many solicitors and barristers in the legal profession, is that the only way in which we can signal to the public and to the Garda Síochána that this is a real criminal offence in Ireland with real consequences is to make perjury a statutory criminal offence. I welcome the statement delivered by the Department of Justice and Equality at the beginning of August that the question of introducing perjury legislation is under review.I look forward to hearing an update on the outcome of the review.