Sentencing Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Ken O'Flynn (II), Cork North-Central

I have to say I am disappointed to hear the Minister is not prepared to bring new legislation to this House. At this stage, should we not be setting a minimum rather than just a maximum sentence given the type of crime it is? These are the most heinous images of child abuse and surely we should be providing for a minimum sentence at this stage rather than setting the maximum. I would ask the Minister to reassess that. I notice the Minister did not answer my last question about what assessments are being done. I do not know if he has that information in front of him today. I would ask the Minister to reconsider the idea that he would not introduce new legislation to set minimum sentencing rather than maximum sentencing. I know it is slightly different but it is time to reconsider whether we put in a minimum sentence or not.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19