Capital Punishment in Ireland - Abolition

Abolition

Noel Browne introduced a private member's bill to abolish the death penalty in March 1981. The Fianna Fáil government voted it down on its first reading. Fine Gael had supported the first reading and would have allowed a free vote at the second reading; the Labour Party supported abolition. Minister for Justice Gerry Collins, in opposing the bill, referred to the four death sentences which were then pending appeal, and said "were we to abolish, and because of the violence of recent years, the pressure for arming the Garda would become extremely strong". After the general election in June 1981, the Fine Gael–Labour coalition introduced a similar bill in the Seanad, which passed there but had not reached the Dáil when the government fell in January 1982. Another private member's bill, introduced by Shane Ross in 1984, began its second reading in 1985, but was still on the order paper in 1990. In 1988, the Progressive Democrats (PDs) produced an aspirational "Constitution for a New Republic", which included a prohibition on capital punishment.

Ireland's 1989 ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), effective 8 March 1990, made a reservation to Article 6(5). The Article reads "Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women." The declaration read "Pending the introduction of further legislation to give full effect to the provisions of paragraph 5 of Article 6, should a case arise which is not covered by the provisions of existing law, the Government of Ireland will have regard to its obligations under the Covenant in the exercise of its power to advise commutation of the sentence of death." The legislation referred to was the Child Care Bill 1988, which became law in 1991; a section was to have been included to raise from 17 to 18 the minimum age for the death penalty. In May 1989, Fianna Fáil minister Michael Woods stated:

I appreciate that there is support for the abolition of the death penalty and, in more normal times, I accept that there would be merit in a full and open debate on the pros and cons of such a move. However, times are not normal and there are armed subversive groups inimical to the institutions of the State. In such circumstances my primary concern — and that of the Minister for Justice — is to provide the maximum protection possible for those who defend our democratic institutions. I am concerned that a move to abolish the death penalty at present could give the wrong signal. It would remove the additional protection which the death penalty provides for members of the Garda Síochána and the Prison Service, who are especially at risk from violent criminals, some of whom have been murdered in the execution of their duty.

After the June 1989 general election, Fianna Fáil formed a coalition with the PDs; the agreed programme for government included abolishing the death penalty. It was abolished for all offences by the Criminal Justice Act 1990, which made the penalty for treason and first-degree murder life imprisonment, with parole in not less than forty years. The Child Care Bill 1988 was still pending, so the section relating to the death penalty was removed as superfluous. In 1993, Tánaiste Dick Spring said in Vienna that the 1990 abolition should be made irreversible, which Taoiseach Albert Reynolds later confirmed was government policy and would involve a Constitutional change. However, the government fell six months later.

One recommendation of the 1996 Constitutional Review Group was:

Prohibit the re-introduction of the death penalty. If this is not deemed desirable, Article 40.4.5° should be retained. If it is prohibited, Article 28.3.3° will require amendment so that the death penalty cannot be imposed in any circumstances.

Article 40.4.5° prescribed the treatment of those under sentence of death; Article 28.3.3° deals with the suspension of rights during a state of emergency. On 7 June 2001, the Twenty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was one of three proposed amendments put to referendums. It added Article 15.5.2°, which prohibits the death penalty; deleted as redundant Article 40.4.5° and several other references to "capital crimes"; and amended Article 28.3.3° to prevent the death penalty being imposed during an emergency. The amendment was passed on a turnout of 34.79%, with 610,455 in favour and 372,950 against. The 38% no-vote was higher than the 28% predicted by polls; there were suggestions that the wording of the ballot question was confusing and that some voters were expressing dissatisfaction with the government.

Ireland adopted the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR in 1993, and the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in 1994, both of which prohibit the death penalty in peacetime. The reservation to ICCPR Article 6(5) was withdrawn in 1994. Ireland ratified the Thirteenth Protocol to the ECHR, which prohibits the death penalty in wartime, at its opening in 2002.