Ceann Comhairle
I would like to thank Deputy Maloney for raising this very important issue.
As the Deputy will appreciate judges are independent in the matter of
sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial
functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. In accordance with
this principle, the role of the Oireachtas has been to specify in law a
maximum penalty and a court, having considered all the circumstances of the
case, to impose an appropriate penalty up to that maximum. The court is
required to impose a sentence which is proportionate not only to the crime
but to the individual offender, in that process identifying where on the
sentencing range the particular case should lie and then applying any
mitigating factors which may be present.
From time to time, issues around consistency in sentencing and the
sentences imposed in high profile or particularly sensitive cases arise.
The Deputy will appreciate that as Minister for Justice, I cannot enter
public discourse on individual cases. It is ultimately for the judge to
impose sentence taking into account all relevant factors. However, I would
draw attention to an important safeguard - the power of the Director of
Public Prosecutions to apply to the Court of Criminal Appeal to review a
sentence she regards as unduly lenient.
The Deputy will be aware that the Law Reform Commission has recently
published a Report on Mandatory Sentencing. Separately, I have established
a Strategic Review Group to consider penal policy including sentencing
policing. I expect the Group to report later this year and I intend to
publish its report. The Group will take account of the recommendations of
the Law Reform Commission report in its deliberations and both reports will
be considered in due course.
Turning to the separate but related issue raised by Deputy Maloney, that of
fines. Fines are the most commonly imposed sentence in our courts and I am
pleased to say that subject to the approval of the Government, the Fines
(Payment and Recovery) Bill will be published next week.
The overall objective of the Bill is one that I am sure is shared by the
Deputy and by most in this House. That objective is to reduce and to the
greatest extent possible, eliminate the need for judges to commit anyone to
prison for the non-payment of fines. Last year, some 8,300 people were sent
to prison for the non-payment of fines. Those people comprised the vast
majority of those sentenced to short sentences by our courts and committed
to our prisons in 2012. The resources expended by all involved in the
justice system, from the judiciary to the Gardaí to the Courts Service to
the Prisons is staggering, at a time when resources are at a premium.
Prison is not the answer to the non-payment of a fine, except in
exceptional cases.
None of this is to say that I am sanguine about the non-payment of fines.
For our justice system to work, it must have the capacity to detect crime,
prosecute offenders and where they are convicted by our courts, to ensure
compliance with whatever sanction the courts impose. Where fines are
concerned, this means collecting the fine. It is regrettably the case that
a significant minority of around 30% of fines are not paid. The Fines
(Payment and Recovery) Bill seeks to address this in a number of ways that
avoid the need to send defaulters to prison. It provides that everyone can
pay a fine by instalments over 12 months and where a person is in default,
an attachment order may be made requiring his or her employer to collect
the fine and pay it over to the courts. The Bill also provides that
community service order may be imposed in all cases of non-payment.
I am confident that the proposals contained in the Fines (Payment and
Recovery) Bill will achieve a significant reduction in the committal to
prison for the non-payment of fines, while protecting the principle that
sentences imposed by the courts must be served and where this involves a
fine, the fines payment and recovery system will strive to collect the fine
either from the person’s income or assets and failing that will impose
community service on the person.
Thank you