Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on mandatory sentencing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27155/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Sentencing policy, including mandatory sentencing, is a matter which is kept under review within my Department.

The Deputy will appreciate that the Courts are, subject only to the Constitution and the law, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions. The traditional approach to sentencing is for the Oireachtas to lay down the maximum penalty appropriate to an offence generally and for the courts, having considered all the circumstances of the offence in each particular case, to impose an appropriate penalty up to that maximum. This approach reflects the doctrine of the separation of powers. The law enables the Judge to exercise his or her discretion, within the maximum penalty, by reference to the conclusions he or she has reached after trying the case, hearing all the evidence and, assessing the culpability and circumstances of the accused. There are a small number of situations, however, where the Legislature has intervened by statute to create exceptions to this approach through mandatory sentencing for certain crimes.

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.

There are a number of commitments relating to sentencing contained in the Programme for Government including a commitment to establish a Judicial Sentencing Commission to formulate sentencing guidelines. The Programme for Government also provides for a formal annual review of the stringent new mandatory sentencing regime for drug crime introduced in section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007. As those provisions were commenced with effect from 18 May 2007, they are now in operation for just over a year. The issue of establishing a formal review mechanism will be addressed at the appropriate stage.

In considering the matter of sentencing, my Department is guided by the ongoing work of the Steering Committee established by the Courts Service Board to plan for and provide information on sentencing. The committee, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Justice Susan Denham of the Supreme Court, comprises a judge from the High, Circuit and District Courts and a university law lecturer with expertise in sentencing law.

The project, known as the Irish Sentencing Information System ("ISIS"), involves an examination of the feasibility of providing a computerised information system on sentences and other penalties imposed for criminal offences. This will assist judges when considering the sentence to be imposed in an individual case. The objective of a sentencing information system is to enable a judge, by entering relevant criteria, to access information about the range of sentences and other penalties imposed for particular types of offence in previous cases. The Committee established a pilot project in June 2006 in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. A further pilot commenced in Cork Circuit Court in April of this year. An appropriate IT system has been developed incorporating a database where the information collected is electronically stored for subsequent retrieval and searching. The work of the Steering Committee is ongoing.