Life prison sentences for serious crimes must mean life – Butterly

The introduction of “whole-life” sentences for the most serious of crimes, specifically the murder of women and children, would send a clear message to perpetrators of violence that life imprisonment will mean life, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Paula Butterly, TD for Louth outlined that in 2024, Gardai responded to 65,000 incidents of domestic abuse.

She said: “37 femicides have occurred since 2020. There are crimes so heinous, so cruel and devastating, that those convicted should never be given the possibility of parole. These women were mothers, grandmothers, young women at the start of their adult lives, in the prime of their life. The victims are gone, but their families’ lives are changed forever. The impact of their deaths will haunt their families for the rest of their lives.

“I commend my Fine Gael colleagues who brought forward legislation to reform the law in relation to life sentences. The Life Sentences Bill will provide for the long-awaited reform of life-sentencing practice in Ireland. It will allow judges when imposing sentence to fully reflect all of the circumstances of the offence.

“It will provide for sentencing courts to reflect the gravity of the most heinous offences. Judges will be able to recommend minimum terms of 25, 30 years or even longer where that is warranted.

“But this doesn’t go far enough, in my view.

“This week in the UK, we saw a whole-life order being imposed on Kyle Clifford, who murdered his ex-girlfriend, her sister and her mother. He will spend the rest of his life in prison, which is possibly the only comfort that can be offered to their surviving loved ones.

“I will be calling for an amendment to be included in our sentencing legislation to ensure that whole-life orders can be imposed. People who commit the most serious crimes should be dealt with in a way that reflects their culpability and the devastation they have caused to victims and families – and in some cases, this will mean they must be imprisoned for the rest of their lives.”