Sentencing Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
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Paul McAuliffe (FF), Dublin North-West

I appreciate that matters before the court are often in the control of the Judiciary. There is a clear separation of powers between what happens in this House and what happens and how decisions are made in a court. As Ms Bourke sat across from me at my clinic, and she was there for some time, I could only agree with her. She feels that a crime was committed and that while justice was administered and there was a process for dealing with all of that, the ultimate outcome of the sanction of a custodial sentence was never served. There is probably no way of releasing Ms Bourke from the view that the injustice stands. It is a reasonable thing for any victim to feel.
We cannot go back and the court case cannot be changed in any way. However, I think it is worth looking at. The Minister said, and I accept, that it is a unique case. It is a particular set of circumstances. As we go forward and examine the interaction between mental health and custodial sentences, this is a matter on which I would like the Minister to dwell. We must not forget the experience of Ms Fionnuala Bourke because she lives with it every single day. Where there is a concurrent sentence, there is a gap where access to information should be provided to the victim. I believe that in some ways, Ms Bourke has come to terms with that. It is a harrowing prospect that you do not know when somebody might be released and when you might meet that person again. That person may have made threats against you and you might encounter or interact with them again. We have the victims' charter to prevent that situation. In this case, there is no such process. It is an area we could consider, but I understand it is a difficult and tricky situation.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-14