PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT would allow judges to recommend minimum prison terms when handing down life sentences has been approved by Cabinet, the Government has announced. 

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has today published a general scheme of the Life Sentences Bill 2024, which will now pass to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice for pre-legislative scrutiny.

The Department of Justice said the Government will also engage with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to progress the drafting of the Bill.

Life sentences in Ireland mean an average of just over 21 years in jail, with judges unable to prescribe minimum jail terms in conjunction with them.

McEntee had signalled her intention to bring forward such legislation when she announced her Justice Plan 2022, promising to give judges more discretion in setting minimum sentences.

The government has said judges may be able to set the minimum at “25, 30 years or even longer “.  

The average length of a jail term for a life sentence has increased over time, from 12 years from 1985 to 1994 to the current average of 21.25 years. 

According to a Government statement, the Life Sentences Bill 2024 – when fully drafted and pending approval by the Oireachtas – would give sentencing judges “a formal role in informing decisions on the release of life-sentenced prisoners on parole”.

It added that when sentencing, “judges will make a recommendation on what minimum term should be served in prison before parole is granted”.

The Parole Board will then have to take that recommendation into account in making its decisions but the recommendation will be non-binding. 

“The Parole Board will continue to be responsible for deciding when a person will be released,” the statement said, adding that a prisoner will not be automatically released after the judge’s recommended minimum term has been served.

Today’s announcement continues a legislative agenda on the part of the Government to come down harder on serious crime. There has been public backlash to some sentences issued for violent crime that many among the public have seen as too lenient. 

Speaking to reporters this morning on the announcement the Taoiseach Simon Harris said “I think this is a major, significant legislative reform”.

He said it would empower the judiciary to “send a very clear message on behalf of society, that some crimes are so heinous that they would recommend a minimum tariff that should be spent in prison before parole becomes realised”.

Minister McEntee added that she had listened to victims, victims groups and the judiciary in putting forward this Bill and said “it is absolutely essential that when a person commits a crime that punishment matches the crime”. 

She said that “it will be a legal obligation on the parole boards to take into consideration the recommendation that the judge has given at the time of sentencing”, adding that the change will “build on many other reforms that have been implemented to date”.