Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Senator Ruane and her co-sponsors on introducing this important Bill and managing it through this House to the point where it has reached its Final Stage in the Seanad today. I know that Senator Ruane and her team have put a significant amount of work into the Bill and, on behalf of the Government, I credit them all for doing so. Senator Ruane engaged very constructively with the former Minister for Justice, Deputy Flanagan, on the earlier Stages of the Bill and I know she met the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, earlier this year to discuss how we in the Government can support the Bill in moving forward.

In that regard, the House will be aware that the current programme for Government contains a commitment to review the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 to broaden the range of convictions that can be considered spent. This important commitment is designed to move us toward a safer society and safer communities by making sure that those who make mistakes or stray into minor crime at one point in their lives have a very strong incentive to stop offending and get their lives back on track. A system that writes people off for minor offences, makes them unemployable and, in fact, incentivises them to believe that the only course available to them is to pursue a life of crime is not a safe system for anyone.

While recognising that there are crimes that are too serious to be spent - this Bill recognises that - there is a clear need to catch people at the early stages of offending and to support them in gaining employment and connections back into society so that they become reformed and do not re-offend. In that regard, my Department's recently published Working to Change - Social Enterprise and Employment Strategy 2021-23 sets out that "people with education and training, who are in work, are less likely to offend and are more likely to make good citizens". The strategy makes clear how a criminal record which remains long after the person has paid his or her debt to society and ceased to offend can frustrate the person's chances of finding employment and act as a barrier to his or her rehabilitation. As such, there is a clear link between gainful employment and reductions in offending.

Overall, in principle, the Government and the Minister are very supportive of the Bill and I note that this support is shared by all sides in this House. I believe the public also understands this - a public consultation launched by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in October 2020 was very supportive. I point out that the Minister does intend to bring some amendments to the Bill when it moves to Dåil Éireann in order to ensure that the Bill is as robust and workable as possible. My Department is considering all of the available evidence, the submissions in the consultation and the academic research in this area to inform our policy decisions in this regard.

However, there is no doubt that the firm purpose of our penal system and the criminal sanctions within it is to make Ireland safer by reducing crime and the harm it causes. An overly punitive criminal justice system which does not offer realistic and accessible opportunities for those with convictions to reform and move past their offending is inherently self-defeating and undermines the important goal of reducing offending.

While recognising that we need to proceed cautiously and that there are genuine concerns about broadening the benefits of the spent convictions regime, the position of the Minister, based on the preponderance of available evidence and with particular regard to the situation in other jurisdictions, is that the benefits of a more liberal spent convictions regime outweigh the risks and that society as a whole is better served with a meaningful and fair spent convictions regime. I emphasise most strongly that the more serious offences demanding of lengthier custodial sentences are not and will not be eligible to be considered spent in our legislation. It is in this spirit that the Minister will continue to collaborate with Senator Ruane and others in progressing the Bill. I again offer Senator Ruane my hearty congratulations and thank her for all her hard work to date in getting the Bill to where it is today.