Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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270. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality in view of the fact that the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act was passed in 2021, if the offence of perjury has yet been codified under the Courts Service’s criminal case tracking system; the number of offences have been prosecuted in the courts since enactment; whether this marks an increase in prosecutions for perjury before the courts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42262/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act came into force in 2021. The purpose of the Act is to consolidate and simplify the law relating to perjury and related offences and to update certain penalties accordingly. The Act provides a clear, statutory definition of perjury and enables the offence and related offences, including false statements on oath, false statutory declarations and false declarations, to be more easily prosecuted before the courts.

Although the offence of perjury is already provided for in common law and the historical levels of investigations and prosecutions for perjury in this country are low, many stakeholders, in particular within the business community, called for new legislation to be put in place in order to make it easier to prosecute such an offence.

Section 14 of the Act extends to three years the time limit within which summary proceedings may be commenced for an offence under the Act or for perjury or subornation of perjury under any other enactment or law. The penalty on summary conviction is a fine of up to €4,000 and/or up to 12 months in prison. There is no time limit for the commencement of proceedings on indictment, which carries a penalty on conviction of a fine of up to €100,000 and/or up to 10 years in prison.

I am advised by the Courts Service that there is no offence code relating to the offence of perjury. Offences of this nature are recorded as free-text offences. It is not possible to break down the number of convictions by the type of proceedings in which perjury arose.