Criminal Law Reform: Proposed Legislation
Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012
The Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 was published on 4 May 2012. The main purpose of the Bill is to assist with the rehabilitation of offenders, who often experience difficulties securing employment as a result of having a conviction. The Bill will provide a regime under which certain convictions can be disregarded after a number of years have elapsed since they were imposed.
Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012
Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012-P&C-memo
Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences Against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012
This Bill creates a criminal offence of withholding information in relation to specified serious offences committed against a child or vulnerable person. The offences specified include most sexual offences and offences such as assault causing harm, abduction, manslaughter or murder. These offences are also offences which are subject to a minimum penalty of 5 years imprisonment. In addition to establishing the offences of withholding information on certain crimes committed against children or other vulnerable persons, the Bill also outlines a number of potential defences.
Withholding Bill 2012 - Explanatory memo
Criminal Records Information System Bill - Draft Scheme
On 17 April, 2012 the Government approved the drafting of the Criminal Records Information System Bill. The Bill will provide for the exchange of criminal records information with other EU member states and other designated states.
Draft Scheme - Criminal Records Information System Bill
General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Search Powers) Bill 2012
On 27 March 2012 the Government approved the priority drafting of the Criminal Justice (Search Powers) Bill 2012 along the lines of the General Scheme. The Bill will address the implications of the Supreme Court judgment in Ali Charaf Damache v The Director of Prosecutions, Ireland and the Attorney General delivered on 23 February 2012. The Court found section 29(1) of the Offences against the State Act 1939 to be unconstitutional.
General Scheme of the Criminal Justice Search Powers Bill 2012 (PDF - 31KB)
Press Release
The National Vetting Bureau Scheme 2011
The National Vetting Bureau Scheme 2011 will place the vetting of persons working with children or vulnerable adults on a statutory basis . It seeks to provide an appropriate balance between the need to disclose such information in the public interest, and in the interest of protecting children or vulnerable adults, while also providing appropriate safeguards to recognise the rights of persons who are the subject of such disclosures. The Bill also provides a statutory framework for vetting procedures provided by the Gardaí arising from a range of other enactments.
National Vetting Bureau Scheme 2011 (PDF - 122KB)
The European Arrest Warrant (Application to Third Countries and Amendment) and Extradition (Amendment) Bill 2011
This Bill will enable Ireland to give effect in Irish law to surrender agreements entered into by the EU with non-EU states. The Bill also makes amendments, mainly of a procedural or technical nature, to the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 and the Extradition Act 1965, which will facilitate the more efficient processing of requests under both Acts."
2011 European Arrest Warrant Bill (PDF 1238kb)