The Labour Party yesterday led calls in the Dáil for “increased urgency” in the development of sentencing guidelines, which has been ongoing since the establishment of the Judicial Council’s sentencing guidelines and information committee in June 2020.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik raised the issue as she praised the courage of Natasha O’Brien, who was brutally assaulted by off-duty soldier Cathal Crotty, who later received a fully suspended sentence.

Her motion called, among other things, for a “review of the practice of suspended sentences, and the criteria used for applying these to those convicted of violent crimes” as well as “increased urgency in the development of sentencing guidelines by the Judicial Council, clear guidelines on the use of character references, and a comprehensive database of judicial sentences”.

Justice minister Helen McEntee said the two matters are “one in the same”.

She told the Dáil: “The work of the Judicial Council is ongoing. While we have no direct role in the work it is doing, it is important it comes back with those recommendations as quickly as possible and that they are implemented as quickly as possible.

“The Judicial Council sentencing guidelines and information committee is progressing that work. The Attorney General has been engaging with the committee in that regard.”

The committee is producing guidelines for specific offences and classes of offences, starting with offences of domestic violence and violence in the context of a relationship, followed by fatal driving offences.

James Browne, minister of state in the Department of Justice, said: “The committee engaged South East Technological University to carry out a research project with judges in the District Court on domestic violence offences.

“I understand the final draft of that report was delivered to the committee three weeks ago and that the committee has accepted its key recommendations relating to the sentencing of relationship violence cases in the District Court.

“The committee intends to proceed to the next phase of guideline development, which will involve consultation with stakeholder organisations and experts. The committee will then provide draft guidelines to the board of the Judicial Council, which it expects to do before the end of this year.”

Mr Browne added that the Judicial Council has also recently “made available as a resource to judges a database containing every sentencing judgment made by the Court of Appeal and a sentencing handbook”.

He said: “For 16 years the Supreme Court, more recently followed by the Court of Appeal, has produced a series of guideline judgments on the approach to sentencing for particular offences and classes of offence. There is also a series of judgments dealing with factors that can apply to sentencing for any offence.

“The committee has produced a guide to all of these judgments which is available on the Judicial Council website. It has also prepared a database containing every sentencing judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal since its establishment 10 years ago, searchable by name or offence.

“The director of judicial studies of the Judicial Council, Mr Justice Charleton, has supervised the compilation of the sentencing handbook, which runs to almost 500 pages.

“It was distributed to all judges on 10 June this year in hard copy and is also available in soft copy. It deals with serious offences, normally those triable on indictment, and its principles are also relevant where such offences are triable on a summary basis.”