The Dáil has voted in favour of a bill which sets out minimum sentences for convicted sex offenders who go on to re-offend.
The Criminal Law Sexual Offences Bill 2018 was introduced by Minister of State Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran who told the house that one of his constituents, Debbie Cole, was raped at 19 by a man who went on to rape other women after his release.
Under the bill, a convicted sex offender who has a previous conviction for either the same or another scheduled offence must serve at least three quarters of the maximum sentence for that further offence.
However, Independent4Change members strongly criticised the bill, with Deputy Clare Daly saying the measures put forward went against evidence which showed mandatory sentences did not act as a deterrent.
Deputy Mick Wallace described the legislation as "flawed" and said the Government would be better off making treatment programmes for convicted offenders mandatory.
Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty defended the new legislation saying there had been public disgust at the leniency of some sentences handed down.
She said while the bill may not be perfect and may not address all the issues, it was still "a bloody good start".
Mr Moran said the judiciary was of course independent in sentencing and a trial judge could take into account all circumstances of a case and impose a proportionate sentence.
However, he added that the Oireachtas was entitled to set out parameters for given offences to reflect what is considered to be the seriousness of that offence.
The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland said they welcome the attention being given to sentencing in sexual violence cases, but said the bill did not address the issue of concurrent sentencing.
"This area needs reform and it is an area that often causes distress for victims. In the small number of cases that make it to conviction we have to be able to deliver consistent justice," Cliona Sadlier, executive director of the Rape Crisis Network said.
"RCNI would very much like to see the issue of concurrent sentencing addressed which this bill unfortunately does not do. While some sexual assaults are one off, many involve multiple offences," she said.
The RCNI also pointed to the absence of sentencing guidelines, and said that consistency of sentencing is critical in terms of delivering transparent justice.
