Call for bail ban for serial burglars and cases taken from lower courts

A leading rural rights group has called for bail to be banned for serial burglars and for those cases to be taken from the lower courts, after the Department of Justice claimed judges do not see the crime as a “serious offence”.

Irish Rural Link chief executive Seamus Boland said the move is necessary after alleging criminals are “laughing” at this country’s lax approach to burglary cases, which sees repeat offenders walk out of jail “within three or six months” or fail to be sentenced at all.

On Thursday, the Department of Justice’s assistant secretary general Jimmy Martin told the cross-party Dáil public accounts committee that “our perception is the judiciary doesn’t view burglary as a serious offence” and that most burglars are charged in the district court, so it’s not a serious issue.