GARDAI CONCERNED ABOUT PATTERN OF DRUGS SENTENCES

In six cases brought under the 1999 Criminal Justice Act, the courts
have opted to impose sentences lower than the mandatory 10-year
minimum on the grounds of exceptional and specific circumstances. Jim
Cusack reports

Senior gardai are expressing concern that the courts appear to be
rejecting one of the Government's main anti-drugs initiatives, the
mandatory 10-year sentence for having drugs worth more than pounds
10,000.

Six cases have come before the courts since the legislation was
enacted in May last year. In none has the mandatory sentence been
handed down, even though in two cases the value of the drugs was put
at over pounds 2 million.

In two other cases the values placed on the drugs were pounds 70,000
and pounds 300,000 and, in the other two cases, pounds 150,000. In all
instances the drug involved was cocaine, which has become much more
widely and cheaply available in Ireland and is seen as the next most
addictive drug after heroin.

In all six cases brought under the 1999 Criminal Justice Act the
courts have opted to impose lower sentences, invoking the opt-out
clause in the legislation which provides for lighter sentences in
cases where there are exceptional and specific circumstances.

In the six prosecutions brought by the Garda under the new Act the
sentences handed down have been four years in three of the cases,
seven years in one case and 71/2 years in another. A seventh case was
brought but the defendant died while awaiting trial.

The 1999 Act was one of the central planks in the Government's
anti-drugs initiatives and was devised and moved through the Dail by
the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue.

The Minister has been forced to defend the legislation in the Dail
against criticism by the Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Jim O'Higgins.

Mr O'Higgins has asked the Minister if he now views the legislation as
ineffective and a "PR stunt". He also raised the issue of there being
no scientific or proven market basis for establishing the value of
illegal drugs.

Mr O'Donoghue has made no criticism of the courts' decisions, adhering
to the protocol of the Oireachtas that it would "not be appropriate"
for him to comment on any judgment.

However, he stoutly defended his legislation, saying he believed it
would "in due course be seen as being an effective mechanism for
dealing with serious drug dealing and trafficking".

He would not be drawn on the fact that in all six cases before the end
of the last law term the courts had found there were exceptional and
specific circumstances to avoid imposing the minimum sentence. He said
that under the 1999 Act the courts "must impose a minimum 10-year
sentence unless it is satisfied that there are exceptional and
specific circumstances relating to the offence or the person convicted
of the offence.

"Accordingly, it is a matter for the courts to decide if the
exceptional and specific circumstances provided for in the Act exist
in any particular case. It would not be appropriate for me as Minister
for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to comment on particular court
decisions in this respect."

Mr O'Donoghue said that any question of appealing against "an unduly
lenient sentence" was a matter for the Director of Public
Prosecutions, "who is independent in his functions". The DPP is
understood to be considering appeals against leniency in several
drugs-related cases.

Mr O'Donoghue was also challenged on the value of his "zero tolerance"
policy towards drugs if the minimum sentence strategy was not working.

He referred to his July 1998 speech to the Dail on the introduction of
the 10-year minimum sentence Bill in which he said: "Ultimately, the
test of `zero tolerance' will be at the end of the term of this
Government as to whether people feel safer on the streets and in their
homes than they did before.

"The Government has no plans to depart generally from existing
arrangements but it believes that because of the unique nature of the
drugs trade and the widespread harm it causes to the community,
mandatory sentences are warranted.

"We are talking about someone involved in the possession for supply of
illegal drugs to the value of pounds 10,000. We are dealing by
definition with someone who plays a substantial part in the supply of
illegal drugs.

"Gangs are not concerned primarily with the type of drugs in which
they deal. They are interested in profit."