Results 581-600 of 1,037,057 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Seán Canney OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:James O'Connor)
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Seán Ó Fearghaíl: I think we have two irreconcilable perspectives on this.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I am just trying to understand the logic of it. Clearly, the Children Act does not apply to anybody who is over 18. The Minister's base point is, as I understand it, that anomalous category. My contention is that you cannot create a perfect equality between somebody aged under 18 and somebody aged over 18 because one is categorised as a child and the other is not. What the Minister wants...
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: We need to engage further on this in terms of the wider picture and the discussion. In order to comply with the equality principle that is underpinned in the High Court ruling, it was made clear to me that children who are aged out and children are treated the same. There cannot be a statutory sentence for children who are aged out because that does not exist specifically for murder for...
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: Children cannot be sent to prison under the Children Act. The Minister is saying that children who have aged out and are now adults can be sent to prison.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: No. We are disapplying it.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: No, the Minister is disapplying a mandatory life sentence but they can get a life sentence. That is what the Minister told us yesterday.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: Any sentence can be imposed.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: That is what I am saying. A child cannot be sent to prison. There is no equality there.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: It is silent on it.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: What is silent?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: In relation to murder specifically, it is silent on that.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: There is no reference to murder. Section 156 of the Children Act 2001 states: "No court shall pass a sentence of imprisonment on a child or commit a child to prison." That is what the law of the land states. A child who offends can be made subject to a detention order under that Act but, under the Minister's proposal, aged-out children can be sent to prison. Is that not a fact?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: If we were to accept this amendment, there would be statutory sentencing for murder.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: If I withdraw the amendment now, a court could impose a prison sentence on an aged-out child. The Minister told us yesterday that aged-out children could be sentenced to life imprisonment, in fact. I am trying to understand the Minister's own proposal. If I withdraw the amendment, what will be the state of the law? Will it be open to a court to send such an aged-out child to prison for murder?
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: No. It will fall back on the common law.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: The Minister's officials are saying "Yes", so it will be.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: There is an option there but-----
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: It is possible, then, to send an aged-out adult to prison. It is not possible to commit a child to prison. There is no equality.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Helen McEntee: It is this Act that we are amending, not the 2001 Act.
- Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2024)
Brendan Howlin: I quoted the Children Act because the Minister said it would default to the Children Act in terms of equality. An adult cannot be treated as a child.