Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 October 2025
283. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to outline the average custodial sentence imposed in cases of child sexual abuse over the past five years; and the number and proportion of such convictions in which part or all of the sentence was suspended. [54166/25]
View answer284. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to provide the average sentence handed down in rape convictions over the past five years; and the number of convictions in which a portion of the sentence was suspended. [54167/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 283 and 284 together.
Management of the courts, along with related operational matters and logistical functions, are the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and the Constitution.
It should be noted that the Department does not record data relating to sentencing and/or convictions.
The Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie.
To be of assistance I have requested the relevant data from the Courts Service. The Courts Service has provided the following:
At this time, the system in use by the Courts Service in the Central Criminal Court and the Circuit Court ("ICMS") is a lotus notes database and cannot produce reports for specific offences. The only reports which are available are by offence category rather than for individual offences and categories of offences can contain multiple offences. It is therefore not possible to provide the detailed report requested at this time.
