Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 May 2016
50. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the process for persons applying under the spent convictions Act; the timeframe for dealing with such applications and the criteria involved. [11159/16]
View answerThere is no application process required for a conviction to deemed spent. The Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 provides that convictions that are eligible to be spent no longer have to be declared and that the convicted person will not be penalised in law for failing to disclose a spent conviction.
In accordance with the provisions of the Act the following convictions which are more than 7 years old are now regarded as spent:
All convictions in the District Court for motoring offences, with the proviso that spent convictions for dangerous driving are limited to a single conviction.
All convictions in the District Court for minor public order offences.
In addition, where a person has one, and only one, conviction (other than a motoring or public order offence) which resulted in a term of imprisonment of less than 12 months (or a fine) that conviction is also spent after 7 years. This can be a District Court or Circuit Court conviction.
The Act was commenced in full on the 29th of April 2016.
