Statement: Senator Bacik to address IPRT AGM

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Party Seanad leader,spokesperson on Justice

Thursday 12th July 2012

SENATOR BACIK TO ADDRESS IRISH PENAL REFORM TRUST AGM

Senator Ivana Bacik will be addressing the Irish Penal Reform Trust AGM tonight Thursday12th July. Speaking withIPRT members, Senator Bacik will discuss the penal policy-making process and will speak in particular about the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committeeon Justice, Equality and Defence.

Senator Bacik will say:

“For far too long penal policy-making has been a ‘poor relation' within the Department of Justice, with penal lawmaking being carried out in aninconsistent manner, without any requirement for an evidence-based approach.There are now very welcome signs that this is changing, with the expectedpublication this year of a White Paper on Crime, the first of its kindand the first major official examination of criminal justice policy ingeneral since the 1998 Report of the National Crime Forum and the ‘TacklingCrime' discussion document in 1997.

“In addition, since the last election the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence has undertakena series of public hearings on the heads of different bills. This importan tnew process feeds directly into the drafting of justice legislation. Todate we have produced or are in the process of producing reports on seven different pieces of legislation, including the Mental Capacity bill andthe Personal Insolvency bill. In this way legislators can have direct inputat pre-drafting stage and I believe this will contribute to a better and more consistent lawmaking process in the area of criminal justice and penalpolicy. ”

ENDS.