The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Mr Jim O’Callaghan has secured approval, in principle, from Government, for a new approach to applications for the consideration of a Presidential Pardon.
Article 13 of the Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) provides that the right to pardon is vested in the President, exercisable only on the advice of existing Government.
Historically, Presidential pardons have been granted sparingly in exceptional cases only. Between 1937 and 2014, only three Presidential pardons were granted, none of which were granted posthumously and none related to cases pre-dating the founding of the State in 1922.
Since 2015, five further pardons have been granted. Four of these relate to convictions that pre-date the foundation of the State.
To grant pardons, a State must acknowledge that it has responsibility for miscarriages of justice administered by that State. There are also significant challenges associated with processing historical cases which predate the foundation of the State, including the likelihood that many of these cases may not be sufficiently documented.
Consequently, under this new approach, only convictions which have been imposed after the foundation of the State in 1922 would be eligible for consideration for Presidential pardons going forward.
In recent years, the volume of requests for Presidential pardons has increased.
While pardons were granted in the past related to cases prior to the foundation of the State, the Government now wishes to ensure that the power to pardon is not in some way devalued by overuse, especially in circumstances where the threshold of proof grounding any proposal for a pardon is lowered due to the passage of time.
The new approach to applications for consideration will adhere to the statutory scheme under the 1993 Act.
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