Ahern: Life sentence terms have doubled

THE average life sentence in this country has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, from 7.7 years to 15 years, according to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.

Speaking in Tipperary yesterday, Mr Ahern said as long as he was minister it would continue to go up rather than down.

“One of the most difficult issues I have as Minister for Justice is dealing with recommendations from the Parole Board in relation to people on life sentences, people who have committed extremely serious offences.

“When you have somebody in prison for 40 years and we have people in prison for very long periods, 15 years is just the average. You have to see, in fairness, that, if you allow them back into society, they won’t commit any offence.

“There are people who on a once off committed a very serious offence, but are unlikely to re-offend. But there are others obviously who may have a risk of re-offending and these are the difficult issues when we make decisions based on the Parole Board. That’s my job and I have to live by that.”

Mr Ahern was at Templemore College where 224 newly qualified gardaí received their certificates.

There was strong criticism from the Rape Crisis Network after the Court of Criminal Appeal this week overturned the life sentence given to serial paedophile, Philip Sullivan, replacing it with one of 15 years.

Mr Ahern said judges had complete discretion on sentencing but that he had concerns with repeat offenders and his department were planning electronic tagging of sex offenders.

University College Cork law lecturer Dr Catherine O’Sullivan said that overturning Philip Sullivan’s life sentence and replacing it with a 15-year sentence is not as “significant” as being portrayed.

“It is not that significant as life sentences at the moment tend to be around 12 or 13 years. So he won’t be serving much less time than what he would have if the life sentence had been left intact,” she said.

Meanwhile, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said he was very happy with the investigation into the murder of Limerick rugby player Shane Geoghegan on November 9 last. “Like the Veronica Guerin investigation, it’s a slow, tedious, but dogged investigation and I am confident of a result.”