New book examines Irish sentencing law and practice

Tom O’Malley, a barrister and senior law lecturer at NUI Galway, has published a new book on sentencing law and practice.

Mr O’Malley, a member of the Law Reform Commission, said the book praises “Ireland’s commitment to individualised justice for individual offenders”.

Sentencing Law and Practice: 3rd Edition is published by Round Hall and dedicated to the late Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, who contributed a foreword to the second edition in 2006.

The 1,000-page treatise, covering all aspects of Irish sentencing law, is the tenth book published by Mr O’Malley on criminal law, sentencing and other legal areas.

While supporting the essentially discretionary nature of the Irish sentencing system, Mr O’Malley also argues in the book that the time has come for more detailed guidance on the sentencing of the more commonly prosecuted offences.

He suggests the appeal courts are best placed to provide this guidance, as the Court of the Criminal Appeal had begun to do in 2014 before its abolition and replacement by the Court of Appeal.