James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to present the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Bill to the House for Report and Final Stages. As the House is aware, the purpose of the Bill is to consolidate and simplify the law relating to offences and related offences.

The Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Bill 2018 aims to establish a statutory criminal offence, much like theft or burglary, for perjury that could clearly be understood by the public, enforcement authorities and prosecutors alike. The Bill proposes penalties of up to 12 months for conviction on a summary offence and up to ten years for conviction on indictment, and these clear statutory penalties for perjury and related offences will act as a deterrent to the offence of perjury and facilitate effective prosecution of the offence to reflect substantial damaging effects caused by perjury.

The amendments brought by the Government to the Bill in the Dáil, all of which were taken on Committee Stage, were necessary to take account of various matters identified by the Office of the Attorney General and in consideration of the observations of other Departments and the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions which might have affected the ability of the State to prosecute effectively under the legislation. Most of the amendments were technical in nature and reflected the advice of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel as to how best the provisions should be drafted. Others were designed to ensure the new legislation can deal effectively with statements of truth, which are an electronic form of providing formal statements in civil proceedings in place of affidavits and statutory declarations which were introduced by the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020. Many of the amendments were focused on more clearly clarifying the provisions in the Bill to ensure the offences in the Bill can be prosecuted effectively.

Turning to the detail of the amendments themselves, these are all Government amendments taken on Committee Stage in Dáil Éireann. The first group of amendments are Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, 27, 28 and 36. These are amendments to sections 1 and 17, and to the Title of the Bill. Amendment No. 1 allows for the inclusion of a reference to the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020, to which we refer in this Bill, in relation to statements of truth. Amendment No. 2 provides for the enactment of the Bill as having the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act of 2005, while amendments Nos. 3 and 5 provide clarity on interpreting references to perjury and subornation of perjury under this Bill. Amendment No. 4 deletes a reference to "relevant Act" which is not required in light of the wider, more comprehensive reference to enactment, which covers secondary as well as primary legislation for the purposes of qualifying offences under section 6 in respect of false statutory declarations and other false statements without oath. Amendment No. 6 provide that section 21(3) of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 does not apply in the case of this Bill. This is because a subsection of the 2020 Act assumes references in any enactments to affidavits and statutory declarations as references to statements of truth made in place of such affidavits and statutory declarations, whereas in this Bill those affidavits and statutory declarations are treated separately and distinctly and do not need to be included here. Amendment No. 27 amends the Short Title of the Bill in accordance with the usual formulation used for Government Bills which would provide for criminal offences by renaming it the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021. Amendment No. 28 is a technical amendment while amendment No. 36 is on foot of proposed new wording from the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.