A JUDICIAL sentencing commission should be established or sentencing guidelines published to tackle the problem of inconsistent sentencing and the non-imposition of mandatory sentences, according to Fine Gael's spokesman on justice.
Charles Flanagan was addressing newly qualified solicitors at the Law Society's parchment ceremony yesterday. He accused the judiciary of not fully co-operating with the Oireachtas in relation to mandatory sentencing.
As a legislator, he frequently came across deep-seated frustration in Leinster House and among the population at large on the matter of sentencing policy. "The Oireachtas has laid down in law that minimum mandatory sentences be handed down for certain categories of offences," Mr Flanagan said, "but the judiciary seems most reluctant to implement the legislation in question."
Judicial independence and the separation of powers was frequently cited as the reason, but he said legislating for minimum mandatory sentences had been held by the Supreme Court to be a fully constitutional exercise of power by the Oireachtas. It was frustrating that the judiciary "has not fully co- operated with the Houses of the Oireachtas in this regard".
The establishment of a sentencing commission or the publication of sentencing guidelines would address this. "The call for action in this area has come not only from within the Oireachtas or from the general public but also from the chairman of the Parole Board and the DPP himself." He called for more dialogue between the judiciary and the Oireachtas.
Mr Flanagan said a judicial council, first proposed by the All Party Committee on the Constitution in 1999, could play a significant role. It had recommended setting up a judicial council to review judicial conduct, establish a code of ethics and undertake other functions that would be laid down by statute.
In 2000, he added, then chief justice Ronan Keane published a report on the matter, but little had happened since, although the clamour for reform of the judiciary had grown louder. "The absence of a body along the lines proposed renders Ireland almost unique among western democracies."
However, he complimented the Law Society and the Bar Council on their proposals for reform and the accountability measures they had embraced, which now featured in the Legal Services Ombudsman Bill, currently before the Dáil.
The Irish Times has learned that the proposed judicial council Bill is now at "an advanced stage". The Chief Justice and the Minister for Justice have agreed to discuss a "narrow but important range of issues".
A judicial council would deal with complaints against members of the judiciary from legal practitioners, court staff and the public. It could also deal with other matters such as judicial education and training, and the representation of the judiciary as a body.
No mechanism exists now whereby complaints can be made about a judge's conduct, other than by way of seeking an impeachment.
A draft Bill was circulated to members of the judiciary earlier in this legal term. It was also discussed at the judiciary's annual national conference in November.