Membership of new Committee to oversee the preparation of Criminal Law Code announced

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Michael McDowell, T.D., today announced the formal establishment, in accordance with the provisions of section 167 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, of the Criminal Law Codification Advisory Committee. This follows on from the announcements by the Tánaiste last week of the next phase in this ambitious project to codify all our substantive criminal law into a single Crimes Act and the appointment of Professor Finbarr McAuley of UCD, Jean Monnet Professor of European Criminal Justice Law to chair the new Committee. The other members of the Committee appointed by the Tánaiste today are: 

  • Mr. Pat McCarthy, Senior Counsel
  • Mr. Richard Humphreys, Barrister-at-Law
  • Ms. Mags O'Driscoll, Barrister-at-Law
  • Ms. Lia O'Hegarty, Consultant and member of the Human Rights Commission
  • Professor Paul O'Connor, Dean of Law, UCD
  • Mr. Matthew Feeley, Office of the Attorney General
  • Mr. Caoimhin O'hUiginn, former Assistant Secretary, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
  • Ms. Elizabeth Howlin, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
  • Ms. Valerie Fallon, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

A member representing the Law Society will also be appointed to the Committee shortly. 

The Advisory Committee will be responsible for overseeing the preparation of the new code, which the Tanaiste last week estimated could take from between five to ten years to complete. 

Speaking at the announcement of the new Committee, the Tánaiste said; "I am very pleased that such excellent people with experience in the criminal law and human rights fields have agreed to serve on the Advisory Committee.  While the work on which they are embarking will be complex and challenging, their participation in the project is an indication of their belief that the final product will make an enormous contribution to making the criminal law more accessible and easily understood, which will of course be to the benefit of everybody involved in the criminal justice system."

The Tánaiste said that he very much looked forward to the commencement of the Committee's work and he wished them well in their endeavours.

1 February 2007

Note for Editors

The Programme for Government included a commitment to codify all substantive criminal law into a single Crimes Act. As a first step in fulfilling this commitment, the Tanaiste established an Expert Group in January 2003, to consider possible approaches to codification and to advise on the scope and extent of such approaches, in particular, identifying any areas where the Group considered codification may give rise to policy difficulties.  The Group was chaired by Professor Finbarr McAuley, UCD and Law Reform Commissioner and included criminal law representatives from the State apparatus, practice and legal academia.

In its Report, the Group outlined the overall structure and style of a criminal code and recommended that codification be undertaken on a phased basis using the various tools of restatement, consolidation and law reform in developing and maintaining the code.

 

Criminal Law Codification Advisory Committee

Provision is made in Part 14 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 for the establishment of the Advisory Committee.  The Committee will oversee the process of codifying the criminal law.  Following enactment of a criminal code, the Committee will also oversee any further maintenance of the code so as to preserve its internal logic and structure in the course of the ordinary programme of criminal law reform and amendment.

Professor McAuley who will chair the Committee is the leading academic criminal lawyer in the country and he chaired original Expert Group referred to above.