Seanad Report
It was amazing there were still people in Ireland
who did not realise that in cases of rape it was the victims who
suffered a life sentence, Martin Mansergh (FF) said.
"My learned friends say that there are many disadvantages with mandatory sentences; that they don't work. So, presumably, suspended sentences work better. Is that the position?"
He said he thought this matter should be debated in the context of forthcoming justice legislation because it was legislation that expressed the will of the people and that determined the limits of judicial discretion.
Geraldine Feeney (FF) said they should seriously consider the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for rape.
It was very sad that a young woman had recently felt it necessary to waive her right to anonymity in order to get what she would regard as justice.
Don Lydon (FF) said they had in recent times witnessed a wide disparity in judgments in the courts. He believed the training of judges needed to be looked at more carefully. House leader Mary O'Rourke said she thought people had been astounded at the decision made lately in a rape case.
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Joining in criticism of the Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe, Mrs O'Rourke said: "I think it is because they are of another colour that people do not want to think it is an horrific country, but the manner in which the opposition is being treated there is horrific."
Shane Ross (Ind) said Minister Dermot Ahern and the Government should do "a solo run" by initiating a diplomatic offensive to demonstrate to the world and to Mr Mugabe that he was a dictator whose respect for human rights was zero.
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Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said one of the things he was concerned about was that many prisoners were brutalised,stabbed and threatened on a routine basis. He was speaking in the final stage debate on the Prisons Bill, which was passed.