Máirín Quill
Ceist:25 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Justice if she intends to establish the necessary mechanism to facilitate the codification of the criminal law; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Vol. 426 No. 2
25 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Justice if she intends to establish the necessary mechanism to facilitate the codification of the criminal law; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
30 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to the comments made by a judge (details supplied) in which he criticised the failure of successive Governments to modernise our criminal law, which he described as being in chaos; if she will give details of her response to these comments; the steps, if any, the Government intends to take to address the shortcoming identified by this judge; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 30 together.
Codification of the criminal law would certainly be a desirable and worthwhile objective. Our criminal law is to be found in a large number of different statutes, many of them predating the foundation of the State. However, the goal of codification would not be easily achieved because of a number of factors, chief among them being the question of resources, both human and financial. Even if the necessary resources were provided, the task would (on the basis of experience elsewhere) involve 15-20 years work. That is on the basis that codification should be accomplished all in one go, so to speak. But there is another way to approach the problem.
My general attitude and that of the Government in this matter is to tackle as a priority the individual areas of the criminal law that are most in need of attention and modernisation.
Examples of that approach can already be found in the laws which were enacted at the instance of the previous Government to update the criminal law in relation to:
— incitement to hatred
— receiving stolen property
— firearms and offensive weapons
— abolition of the death penalty
— rape and sexual assault
— forensic testing, including DNA profiling
— criminal damage to property
— criminal evidence.
In so far as future action is concerned, I am happy to say that a Criminal Justice Bill dealing with a procedure for the review of unduly lenient sentences, victim impact assessments in sexual offence cases and compensation to victims will be brought forward shortly. The Bill dealing with telephone tapping has just been restored to the Order Paper. In addition, draft Bills are being prepared in my Department in relation to