Establishment cannot ignore sentencing farce

As the latest victim of a high-profile sex abuse case prepares to meet the Taoiseach, the political establishment can no longer avoid discussing the need to reform the system for sentencing.

Fiona Doyle is the third victim in less than six months to see her abuser — in this case her own father, Patrick O’Brien — avoid jail after being handed down a suspended sentence.

In October, the Circuit Criminal Court suspended a four-year sentence imposed on Graham Griffith for a violent sexual assault on a teenager who he pinned to the ground during the assault.