Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2014
98. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to reform the criminal justice system; the proposals she has to reform bail laws; if she proposes to place sentencing guidelines on a statutory footing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26695/14]
View answerAn ongoing project in the area of criminal justice is the work of the Group conducting a Strategic Review of Penal Policy. In line with the recommendations of the Thornton Hall Project Review, which reported in July 2011, the then Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter T.D., established a group to carry out an all encompassing strategic review of penal policy.
That Working Group was asked to make recommendations as to how a principled and sustainable penal system might be further enhanced taking into account resource implications, Constitutional imperatives and international obligations. In conducting this review, the Working Group was asked to examine the role of penal policy in crime prevention, sentencing policies, alternatives to custody, custodial accommodation and regimes, reintegration and rehabilitation and any special issues relating to female offenders. The Group is expected to report shortly and I will take into consideration their recommendations when looking at the question of sentencing guidelines.
As regards legislation relating to the criminal justice system, pre-legislative consultation on the General Scheme of the Criminal Procedure Bill is underway. The primary aim of this Bill is to increase the efficiency and fairness in the trial process and to reduce delays in the criminal system generally. It provides for new preliminary trial hearings to so that procedural arguments which arise during trials at present can be dealt with before a jury is empanelled, thereby saving time and allowing juries to focus on the facts of the case. The General Scheme of the Bill deals with a number of other issues such as electronic transmission of warrants, more efficient use of videolink hearings and the provision of information to juries.
The drafting of the General Scheme of a Bail Bill to modernise the law on bail is at an advanced stage in my Department. I intend to bring proposals to Government on the matter soon, having regard to other legislative priorities. It has, unfortunately, not been possible to progress this legislation as quickly as I had hoped due to other legislative imperatives. While the primary aim of the proposed Bail Bill is to consolidate and update bail law, I will take the opportunity in this legislation to seek, as far as is possible, within the constraints of the Constitution and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, to restructure the law so that it has a focus on the protection of the individual and of the public. The intention is that the new proposals will provide better guidance to the courts on how such protection might be provided.
