Report on Mandatory Sentences - Law Reform Commission

2.208 Section 24 of the 2007 Bill provided that a person who committed any one of a list of scheduled
offences and, within 7 years, committed another of those offences would be subject to a penalty of
imprisonment equal to at least three quarters of the maximum term laid down by law for that second
offence. 487 Where the second offence carried a potential maximum term of life imprisonment, a sentence
of at least 10 years was mandated. This provision was enacted as section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act
2007.
2.209 Regarding the scheduled offences, the Minister for Justice indicated that these were “among the
most serious known in criminal law” and included “offences typically associated with gangland crime,
including, of course, drug-trafficking and firearms offences.” 488 The Minister stated that, in broad terms,
these were racketeering offences and that the inspiration for the inclusion of these provisions was the
“Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, RICO, legislation in the USA”. 489 He remarked that
“these provisions on sentencing are innovative in Irish terms and reflect the need to find new ways to
meet the challenge that we face from organised crime.” 490
2.210 There were a number of events which prompted the introduction of the Criminal Justice Bill in
2007. In December 2006, there had been a spate of murders which, the Minister for Justice stated,
indicated that “some criminal gangs believed they could act with impunity.” 491 In addition, the Balance in
the Criminal Law Review Group, which had been established by the Minister in 2006 to examine a wide
range of criminal justice areas, 492 had just published its interim report. 493 The Opposition also referred to
two recent reports which had ranked Ireland unfavourably in terms of criminal statistics. 494 In February
2007, the EU International Crime Survey had published its 2005 report, The Burden of Crime in the EU, 495
which found that Ireland ranked highest with regard to the risk of crime, assaults with force, sexual
assaults and robberies. 496 At around the same time, the Economic and Social Research Institute of
Ireland had published crime figures in its 2007 report, The Best of Times The Social Impact of the Celtic
Tiger, 497 which suggested that while the rate of lethal violence in Dublin was not out of line with other
European capital cities, it had “increased dramatically when the international trend [was] downward.” 498
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Section 24 of the Criminal Justice Bill 2007. See: Dáil Debates, Criminal Justice Bill 2007, Second Stage, 22
March 2007, Vol 634, No 2, Col 382.
Dáil Debates, Criminal Justice Bill 2007, Second Stage, 22 March 2007, Vol 634, No 2, Col 383.
Dáil Debates, Criminal Justice Bill 2007, Second Stage, 22 March 2007, Vol 634, No 2, Col 384. §1961-68 of
the United States Code. See: Atkinson “‘Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations’ 18 USC § 1961-
68: Broadest of the Federal Criminal Statutes” (1978) 69 J Crim L & Criminology 1 at 1-2.
Dáil Debates, Criminal Justice Bill 2007, Second Stage, 22 March 2007, Vol 634 No 2, Col 384.
Dáil Debates, Criminal Justice Bill 2007, Second Stage, 22 March 2007, Vol 634, No 2, Col 381; “McDowell’s
new Laws are old Promises” Irish Independent 15 February 2007; “Draconian Measures ‘are necessary if we
are to curb Gang Crime Epidemic’” Irish Independent 23 March 2007; Brady “Gangland Killings a National
Emergency, say Gardaí” Irish Independent 2 April 2007; “Gangland Threat is a National Emergency,
Conference told” Irish Independent 5 April 2007; and Bray “Gangland is flourishing, claims FG” Irish
Independent 10 April 2007.
Notably, mandatory sentencing was not one of these areas.
McIntyre Irish Current Law Statutes 2007 at 29-06.
Dáil Debates, Criminal Justice Bill 2007, Second Stage, 22 March 2007, Vol 634, No 2, Col 394-395, Mr Jim
O’Keeffe, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Justice.
Van Dijk, Manchin, van Kesteren, and Hideg The Burden of Crime in the EU - A Comparative Analysis of the
European Survey of Crime and Safety (EU ICS) 2005 (Gallup Europe, 2007).
Ireland ranked third highest for burglaries and ranked high for car theft and personal theft.
Fahey, Russell and Whelan, eds, Best of Times The Social Impact of the Celtic Tiger (IPA, 2007).
Ibid at 252; and Lally “Dublin Murder Rate is fastest growing” Irish Times 20 March 2007.
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