Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. She touched on two points, which are the mandatory maximum sentence and the presumptive mandatory minimum sentences. A request was put in by the Senator's colleague, Senator Ruane, that we would have a review of the mandatory minimum sentences.That is happening at the moment. Only a few types of offences - firearms and drugs offences - have that minimum presumptive sentence. The evidence to date, though we have not seen the final review, is they do not work as a deterrent. They are only guidelines. We cannot dictate or tell the Judiciary what it must impose. We can provide guidelines and, on the other side, provide the maximum sentence. What is proposed here is not a mandatory maximum sentence but would be the maximum sentence that could be applied.

On the timeline referred to of a year, the likelihood is that the number of people being given a life sentence for conspiracy to murder would not enable us to do an in-depth analysis of how it is working, if it is a deterrent or the impact it has on other areas. After five, six or seven years, we are likely to have a better picture. It is not a mandatory sentence and probably not something we will see ten, 20 or 30 of every year. It will take longer. It is better that a review be done more generally, whether looking at how we deal with organised crime, the work the gardaí do or penal policy, which is being developed in my Department at the moment.

I understand where the Senator is coming from and the intention. We want this to be a deterrent but I do not think building a review into the legislation would have the desired effect. It is about making sure this is part of a rounder piece of work the Department consistently does with the Garda, the courts, the parole board and other services to see how it affects it. I am not accepting the amendment because I do not think we would have the data to do the work it refers to. I accept the premise she is basing this on but it needs to feed automatically into the work of the Department.