Consultation Paper on Inchoate Offences - Law Reform Commission

2.162 In light of these difficulties the French model for defining attempt,which builds the absence of abandonment by the actor into the positivedefinition of attempt, is of interest. The French approach does not requireprocedural departure from the presumption of innocence entailed by areverse onus and it avoids the problem of deciding what is voluntary byfocusing analysis on the reason why the attempt failed. Only if the reason isindependent of the actor‟s will can attempt liability attach. However, optingfor this mode of definition sets up a much less restrictive regime in terms ofthe potential for abandonment to render an actor free of attempt liability thandoes the regime under the MPC. Given that Ireland currently has thecommon law position that abandonment is irrelevant to attempt liability itmight be thought that going for the approach in the French Penal Codewould be too dramatic a change.2.163 The Commission invites submissions on whether abandonmentshould have relevance to attempt liability.75