Vol. 509 No. 1
307 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on whether punishment for offences against the child are low in Ireland and in other European states in comparison to international standards; the plans, if any, he has to amend this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19866/99]
In general, the penalties in Irish law for offences against children, including child sex abuse, are severe. One such penalty that has not been increased for many years is that for cruelty to children. The Children Bill, 1999, which I published recently, proposes to raise the maximum penalty for cruelty to children from two years to seven years imprisonment.
With regard to the issue of sentencing, the Deputy will be aware that the courts are, subject only to the Constitution and the law, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions and I, as a member of the executive, am precluded from intervening directly.
Under our legal system, the law provides generally for maximum penalties for criminal offences. 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. Our system of recruitment to all levels of the judiciary is based on the concept of bringing in experienced and trained legal practitioners and, consequently, judges, on appointment, have a wide knowledge of the law and its application. In so far as consistency of sentencing is concerned, I consider it important to mention that the Criminal Justice Act, 1993, provides that the Director of Public Prosecutions may apply to the court for a review of what appears to the director, to be an unduly lenient sentence.
The complex question of sentencing policy was addressed at length by the Law Reform Commission who specifically recommended against the introduction of statutory sentencing guidelines. Its report pointed out a number of differences of opinion among members of the Commission in relation to some of the recommendations in that report which tends to underline the obvious complexities which arise in relation to sentencing policy.
The Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, enables me to provide funds for judicial training courses arranged by the judiciary and, this year, I made £60,000 available to the Judicial Studies Institute, which was established by the Chief Justice for the purposes of judicial training. I understand that the issue of sentencing has been examined by the Institute in the context of its training programme.
