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courts, this may be too restrictive an interpretation, but the suspicion remains that the
procedure under Section 100 is designed to replace procedures used in the District Court
up to now, even though such procedure has not been abolished bythe statute. 174
CONCLUSION
The arrival of Sections 99 and 100 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 heralds significant
changes in the disposal of criminal cases. These changes will in all likelihood emerge in
circumstances where the courts abandon the use of the common law jurisdiction to
suspend sentences, which it has been argued, survives the introduction of the newstatutory
power of the courts to suspend sentences. The opportunityto establish the newstatutory
provisions as the only source of legal authority to suspend sentences was not availed of in
the legislative process by abolishing the practices and authorityheretofore exercised by the
courts. In particular, a difficulty identified from the case of Michael O’Brien – v –
Governor of Limerick Prison [1997] 2 I.L.R.M. p.349 in respect of the enforcement of the
part suspended sentence may not have been surmounted under Section 99 and appear to
endure, in part, under the newarrangement. Accordingly, the power to suspend sentences
henceforth may be drawn either from the common law inherent jurisdiction of the courts
to do so or under the express provisions of Section 99 and 100 of the Criminal Justice Act
2006.
The inclusion of a prescribed enforcement procedure within the Act itself is a major
advance upon the haphazard procedures used to date to ensure compliance with the
conditions of a suspended sentence. Besides the uncertainty surrounding the future
exercise of discretion bythe prosecution (An Garda Siochanna), Prison Governors and the
Probation Officers as the case may be (Section 99(13) and (14)), the automatic procedure
for activating a sentence upon a further conviction within the period of suspension will
facilitate a wider use of the suspended sentence as predicted by the Whitaker Committee
(1985). Such wider use of the suspended sentence, however, may result in the
displacement of lower grade punishments in sentencing such as fines and even the partial
displacement of the probation order, as provision has now been made to include the
probation officer in the suspended sentence process itself (Section 99(6)). The Oireachtas
174 The District Court has eschewed the imposition of part suspended sentences up to the present. Section 99 opens up the prospect of the District Court disposingof cases bywayof
part suspendedsentences. This is adouble-edgedsword. Awider use of the part suspendedsentence especiallybythe Courts which deal with the greater volume of cases is likelyto
escalate the number of committals to prison consequent upon agreater number of breaches.
392