Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has explained his rationale as to why he generally does not support minimum sentences, even for serious crimes like assaults against women.
In a recent Parliamentary Question, the Fianna Fáil Minister was asked by his party colleague Michael Cahill TD “if he will increase minimum sentences for assaults against women to act as a greater deterrent and help safeguard women.”
O’Callaghan stressed that combating gender-based violence was a top priority of Government, and that they wished to pursue a “zero tolerance” policy towards sex crimes, domestic violence,a nd more. However, he broke down why he would not support minimum sentences for such crimes.
He explained that, generally under law, politicians set maximum penalties, but the final sentence was left to judges, who were better placed to look at each case and take into account all of the aggravating and mitigating factors.
“Under the standard legislative approach, the Oireachtas sets the maximum penalty for an offence, and sentencing judges determine the appropriate sentence in each case, taking account of proportionality, aggravating and mitigating factors, and the individual circumstances of the offender,” O’Callaghan explained.
“This reflects Article 34 of the Constitution, which vests the administration of justice in the courts.”
He added that mandatory minimum sentences are “rare” and apply primarily in cases such as “murder and treason under the Criminal Justice Act 1990.”
The Minister further stated that the Judicial Council was established in 2020 as an “independent body” to assist judges when passing sentence, “with functions including the preparation of draft sentencing guidelines and the monitoring of the operation of those guidelines.”
“On May 16th 2025, the Judicial Council’s Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee published a report on guidance on sentencing for domestic violence offences,” he said.
“Once formally adopted as a Sentencing Guideline, this will provide a framework for sentencing in the context of domestic abuse in future cases.
“The report acknowledges that in very many of the cases where a relevant relationship exists or has existed, there will generally have been a pattern of abusive behaviour. Where an offence is committed, it should be looked at in this context.”
The Minister added: “The Programme for Government 2025 includes a commitment to enable me, as Minister, to request the Judicial Council to prepare sentencing guidelines for specific offence categories within set timeframes. In July, Government approved the drafting of a General Scheme to amend the Judicial Council Act 2019 to give effect to this commitment and work on the Scheme is underway.”