Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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104. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to introduce mandatory sentences for those persons convicted of burglary where the victim is an elderly person; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8560/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The laws in place in relation to burglary provide for stringent penalties, including provision for imprisonment for life for those convicted of aggravated burglary and also presumptive minimum sentences.

As the Deputy will be aware, as Minister for Justice and Equality, I have introduced targeted legislative measures dealing with the issue of burglary. The Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Act 2016, the purpose of which is to address issues relating to bail and sentencing for prolific burglars of dwellings, provides that persons awaiting trial for burglary of a dwelling who have recent convictions or pending charges for domestic burglaries can be denied bail in appropriate cases.

The Act also provides for consecutive sentences for prolific burglars. Section 2 of the Act inserts a new section 54A into the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. This provision requires a court which decides to impose custodial sentences for multiple domestic burglary offences committed within a 12 month window to impose such sentences consecutively. The provisions apply to adults previously convicted of a domestic burglary committed in the five years before the burglary offence for which they are being sentenced.

The Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 provides that a person guilty of burglary is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years or both and section 13 of the Act provides that a person convicted of aggravated burglary is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.

In addition, section 26 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 provides that a court may make a monitoring order for persons convicted of aggravated burglary. The court may also make a Protection of Persons Order which prohibits the offender from engaging in any behaviour that would be likely to cause the victim of the offence fear, distress or alarm. That Act also provides that where a person has been convicted on indictment of a specified offence (which includes aggravated burglary) and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of at least 5 years and commits another specified offence within 7 years of the first conviction, the court must impose a minimum term of imprisonment which is at least three quarters of the maximum sentence provided by law for that offence, or at least 10 years imprisonment if the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, unless to do so would be disproportionate in all the circumstances of the case.

The case for any further strengthening of the law will be kept under review, and the Justice and Equality Joint Committee could play an important role in this regard. However, it must also be borne in mind that the Strategic Review of Penal Policy report published in 2014 made a number of recommendations in relation to sentencing. Adopting an approach similar to the Law Reform Commission in its Report on Mandatory Sentences published in June 2013, the Review Group recommended that no further mandatory sentences or presumptive minimum sentences be introduced and that existing provisions should be reviewed. An Implementation and Oversight Group was established in 2015 to oversee implementation of these recommendations.

Finally, it is important to also mention the activities of Operation Thor which was established to tackle burglary and related crimes, in both rural and urban areas. Since the launch of the operation in November 2015, the burglary figures have shown a significant downward trend and the most recent crime statistics for Q3 of 2016 show a decrease of 31% in burglary for the twelve months ending 30 September 2016 compared to the previous twelve month period.