The Law Reform Commission has called for a Judicial Council to be set up to help address inconsistencies in sentencing.

The commission wants mandatory life sentences to be kept in murder cases and it suggests judges should be allowed to recommend a specific minimum term the offender must serve.

However the Commission want to end the practice of minimum sentences for drugs and firearms cases to allow judges to apply thier discretion.

The Report contains analysis of the development of the law in Ireland on mandatory sentences, as well as analysis of similar laws in other jurisdictions, such as the UK and US.

The report discusses in detail the specific aims of criminal sanctions, which include deterrence, punishment, reform and rehabilitation, reparation, and incapacitation; and the key principles in sentencing of consistency and proportionality.

It also contains a detailed analysis of sentencing guidance given by Irish courts in recent years, which have included:

• The points of departure in the sentencing of certain serious offences, such as manslaughter, rape and robbery
• Sentencing ranges for serious offences
• Factors that aggravate and mitigate the gravity of an offence and severity of a sentence

The Commission notes that the only completely mandatory sentence in Ireland is the life sentence for murder and adds that "judges have no discretion here and must impose a life sentence". It says they do not even have the power to suggest any specific minimum sentence, unlike the position in other jurisdictions.

For example, in Northern Ireland the sentencing judge can recommend a minimum term that must be served before an offender is eligible for parole.

The Commission also examined other “presumptive” mandatory sentences, such as those introduced in 1999 for certain drugs offences and in 2006 for certain firearms offences. The drugs offence law says that 10 years should be imposed where the “street value” is over €13,000, but also allows for a lesser sentence in exceptional and specific circumstances.

The main recommendations in the report are:

• The Commission supports previous recommendations (including in the 2011 Report of the Thornton Hall Review Group) that a Judicial Council should be able to develop and publish suitable guidance or guidelines on sentencing; and that these would have regard to decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal, to the sentencing principles discussed in the Report, and to information in databases such as the Court Service’s Irish Sentencing Information System (ISIS).
• The Commission recommends that the mandatory life sentence for murder should be retained
• The Commission recommends that where an offender is convicted of murder, and is therefore sentenced to life imprisonment, legislation should provide that the judge may recommend a minimum term to be served by the offender
• The Commission also recommends that the Parole Board should be established on an independent statutory basis, and welcomes the Government’s proposal to introduce legislation bringing about this effect.
• The Commission recommends that the presumptive sentencing regime that applies to certain drugs and firearms offences should be repealed and should not be extended to any other offences.
• The Commission recommends that the existing legislation concerning mandatory sentences (and, where relevant, presumptive sentences) that applies in the case of second and subsequent offences should also be repealed and should not be extended to any other offences
• The Commission also recommends that the more structured, guidance-based sentencing system (as envisaged in the Report) would provide an appropriate alternative to these provisions.

Director of Research at the Law Reform Commission, Raymond Byrne, says they want to follow best international practice: