1st May 2011
In today's printed Irish edition of The Sunday Times, Mark Tighe reports on the forthcoming Spent Convictions Bill which is due to be published by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter this summer.
In the article, Tighe reports that current Irish law ensures that past convictions are disclosed when asked by a prospective employer.
IPRT's Liam Herrick is quoted in the article stating: "Most offending takes place when individuals are in a particular age bracket, and behaviour in late teens or early twenties is not an accurate predictor of how individuals will behave in their thirties and forties."
The article goes on to say that the Bill will not cover those involved in insurance fraud, sexual offences or cases tried in the Special Criminal Court.
In another article, entitled 'The web never forgets' (in the same edition of The Sunday Times), Tighe explores the current attempts by the EU to give people more of a say over the information which is published about them on the internet.
In this second article, Liam Herrick states that accessing information about convictions is a complex issue involving the rights of victims and their families: "IPRT believes access to such information should be limited where a conviction has been deemed spent and the person no longer has a duty to disclose the conviction."
Read more:
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.