Judges will be able to recommend minimum prison terms when imposing life sentences, as part of a new Government bill.
The plan is contained in the general scheme of the Life Sentences Bill 2024, which - if it ultimately becomes law - will also allow the original sentencing judge a say in how long a prisoner in jail for a life sentence should serve before they are given parole.
Under existing legislation, life sentences are mandatory for people who have been convicted of treason or murder, with the punishment also allowed to be considered for other serious crimes such as rape, attempted murder and assault causing serious harm.
In the 1970s the average term of a life sentence was seven years. This has increased in recent decades and, since 2019, the average life sentence term has been given as 21 years.
However, there has been a significant amount of public debate in recent years over the varying scale of life sentences for serious crimes, resulting in the Government conducting a review of prison and penal reform two years ago.
This review included plans for the Life Sentence Bill, the general schemes of which were recently passed by a meeting of the Cabinet and are due to be published today.
If it becomes law, the bill will give sentencing judges the right to recommend minimum prison terms when imposing life sentences.
It will also give the sentencing judge a non-binding role in recommending how long a life sentence prisoner should serve before being given parole, although the parole board will still make the final decision.
The bill will be published by Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, before it is sent to the cross-party Oireachtas justice committee for pre-legislative scrutiny.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust has welcomed that the recommendations are non-binding, adding that the parole board should make final decisions.
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Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Philip Boucher Hayes, IPRT Executive Director Saoirse Brady said the only people currently eligible for parole are those on life sentences, so it cannot yet be applied to any other type of sentence.
Ms Brady questioned if the measure was necessary as the average life sentence served last year was 24 years.
"We already have a really robust system," she said, adding that the measure needed to be discretionary as if it was handed down in every case, it could cause sentence inflation.
"For the criminal justice system to work, we all have to retain the belief that somebody can change."
