Mandatory sentencing:Under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act (1999), any person convicted of an offence related to the possession of drugs with a value of €13,000 or more should receive a mandatory sentence of 10 years or more.
However, the provisions also allow for discretion in sentencing in some cases. These circumstances include
• whether the offender pleaded guilty,
• under what circumstances and at what stage.
Latest Department of Justice figures show that of the 80 drug dealers who appeared before the courts last year and were eligible for the 10-year term, just 10 received the sentence.
A study in 2001 of the mandatory 10-year drug sentence also revealed judges had imposed the full term in just five of 130 cases in the two-year period since the introduction of the mandatory sentence.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell (has criticised the way in which the exercise of this discretion has become the norm and says he has moved to try to counter this by strengthening the mandatory provisions by way of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
The new provisions require the court to take account of any previous convictions and also to take account of whether the public interest in preventing drug trafficking is served by imposing a lesser sentence.
Bail applications
Restrictions to the right to bail were introduced following a referendum in November 1996.
The measures, which took almost four years to come into force, allowed a court to refuse bail to anyone charged with a serious offence where it was considered necessary to prevent the person from committing a serious offence.
Mr McDowell, however, has voiced disquiet at the regularity with which the courts have granted bail to "serious players in the Dublin drugs world", despite opposition from gardaí.
It emerged this week that 23 out of 24 associates of murdered drugs dealer Martin "Marlo" Hyland were granted bail after being charged with offences by gardaí.
Mr McDowell rebuked the judiciary this week on its application of the bail laws.
He said Article 40 of the Constitution obliged the State to protect and vindicate the rights of the people, which also meant preventing people from engaging in gangland activity.
