Section 99 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2006 enshrined in statute the power to suspend a sentence and provides for the re-activation of a suspended sentence in the event of the commission of another offence by a person who is subject to a suspended sentence.
In his High Court judgment delivered yesterday, Justice Moriarty has found the subsections of Section 99 (Power to suspend sentence) of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 under review to be unconstitutional.
The subsections in question provide that a person who is subject to a suspended sentence, and subsequently convicted of a second "triggering" offence, is returned to the court which imposed the suspended sentence to have that matter dealt with before being sentenced for the second “triggering” offence.
The consequences and implications of Justice Moriarty’s judgment have been under urgent examination in consultation with the Attorney General.
As the issues in question are likely to lead to court challenges it would not be appropriate to make detailed comment on the judgement. However, there are no grounds for believing that persons generally who had not raised this issue in the course of proceedings which have been concluded will now be able to benefit from the finding of the High Court.
The Government will take all necessary action open to it to address the issues arising from Judge Murray’s judgement. While legislation cannot retrospectively affect criminal cases before the courts, if, in the light of the consultations with the Attorney General, it is concluded that amending legislation is necessary, this can be introduced in the Dáil very quickly – if necessary within days.