Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 260: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his proposals to put a limit on the length of time the record of a criminal conviction in the District Court is held in court records and available to members of the public, when the convicted person does not reoffend over many years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34097/08]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his proposals to put a limit on the length of time the record of a criminal conviction in the District Court is held by the Garda Síochána when the convicted person does not reoffend over many years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34098/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 260 and 261 together.

I can inform the Deputy that earlier this year the Government accepted a proposal from my predecessor that it should take over the Spent Convictions Bill 2007, introduced into the Dáil in October 2007 as a Private Members Bill by Minister of State Mr Barry Andrews, TD (prior to his appointment to that position), and adopt it as a Government Bill.

The Bill reflects the recommendations contained in the Law Reform Commission's report on spent convictions which was published in July 2007. The report recommends the establishment of a procedure that will allow for the non-disclosure of certain convictions where certain conditions are met, i.e. the convictions may, in those circumstances, be regarded as 'spent'. The conditions include a requirement that a conviction — free period must elapse before a conviction could be regarded as 'spent'. A period of 7 years without a further conviction is proposed in cases where a sentence of imprisonment had been imposed or 5 years in cases where fines had been imposed. It is important to note that the procedure proposed by the Commission and reflected in the Bill is a non — disclosure procedure: it does not entail a deletion of the conviction from the Garda records.

The Bill is currently awaiting Second Stage. As a result of the Government decision, and subject to certain procedural requirements, it is intended that the Second Stage debate in the Dáil and all subsequent Stages in both Houses should be taken in Government time.