Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 189: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the offences where mandatory sentences currently exists; if he is satisfied that judges are applying these mandatory sentences appropriately; and if he has proposals to extend the range of offences where mandatory penalties exist or to otherwise revise the terms of the legislation to reduce the frequency when mandatory penalties are not applied. [9793/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of different types of mandatory sentences.

Firstly, mandatory life sentences apply to the most serious of offences including murder, treason and the offence of genocide in cases where the offence involves the killing of any person. Secondly, mandatory minimum sentences apply where a person is convicted of a second or subsequent offence under section 15A or 15B of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 as amended. These are the offences of possession or importation of controlled drugs for sale or supply with a value of over of €13,000. Mandatory minimum sentences also apply to certain firearms offences.

Finally, presumptive minimum sentences apply where: a person is convicted of a first offence under section 15A or 15B of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 as amended; a person is convicted on indictment of a second or subsequent offence being a scheduled offence under section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 within a period of 7 years of a previous conviction on indictment for a scheduled offence.

In order for the provision to be triggered, the sentence imposed for the previous conviction must have been 5 years or more. The scheduled offences include serious non-fatal offences against the person, aggravated burglary, firearms and explosives offences, drug trafficking offences, and organised crime offences.

Presumptive minimum sentences also apply to certain firearms offences. Unlike mandatory or mandatory minimum sentences, presumptive minimum sentences allow a judge, who is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist, to depart from the mandatory or mandatory minimum sentence specified in statute and impose a lesser sentence. As the Deputy will be aware, the Oireachtas revisited this sentencing approach in the Criminal Justice Acts 2006 and 2007 in order to refine the statutory provisions to ensure that they adequately captured the intention of the Oireachtas and also to extend its application to certain firearms offences and repeat offenders. As set out in the Programme for Government, I intend to introduce a formal review process to assess the effects of these changes.