183. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the actions taken by her arising from the recommendations made in the Law Reform Commission Report on Mandatory Sentences dated July 2013, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1721/16]

The position in relation to the recommendations contained in the Law Reform Commission Report on Mandatory Sentences is summarised in a tabular form below. However, I would also like to draw the Deputy's attention to the Report of the Penal Policy Review Group which was tasked with carrying out a strategic review of penal policy. That report, which I published in September 2014, made a number of recommendations about sentencing. Adopting an approach similar to the LRC in its Report, the Review Group recommended that no further mandatory sentences or presumptive minimum sentences be introduced and existing provisions should be reviewed. At the time of publication of the report I pointed out that it was my preference to maintain the minimum mandatory life sentence for murder as was also recommended by the LRC. The recommendations of the Review Group, and the LRC, about sentencing are still under consideration within my Department.

More generally, and as the Deputy will appreciate, judges are independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. The approach of the Oireachtas has generally been to specify in law a maximum penalty for an offence, so that a court, having considered all the circumstances of a case, may impose an appropriate penalty up to that maximum. The court is required to impose a sentence which is proportionate not only to the crime but to the individual offender, in that process identifying where on the sentencing range the particular case should lie and then applying any mitigating factors which may be present. An important safeguard rests in the power of the Director of Public Prosecutions to apply to the Court of Appeal to review a sentence she regards as unduly lenient.

The Superior Courts have developed a substantial body of case law setting out general principles of sentencing. Sentencing practice is also being developed by a steering committee of the judiciary which developed the Irish Sentencing Information System website, a pilot initiative designed to gather information about the range of sentences and other penalties that have been imposed for particular types of offences across court jurisdictions. This system is being developed as a valuable tool not only for members of the judiciary but also for lawyers, researchers and those concerned with the needs of victims and their families, and I very much support the initiative led by the Judiciary through the Judicial Research Office in undertaking the detailed work of gathering and providing information on sentencing via the website.

The Deputy may also wish to note that in 2014, the Court of Criminal Appeal issued a number of judgments which addressed the question of sentencing and which acknowledged the many factors that can be considered in individual cases which undermine the usefulness of direct comparisons between one case and another. Nonetheless, every effort to promote consistency should be made and in this respect it is appropriate for the courts to provide guidance on sentencing matters.

REPORT ON MANDATORY SENTENCES (LRC 108-2013)- CHAPTER 6 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS