The vast majority of drug dealers are escaping minimum 10-year prison sentences despite repeated calls on the judiciary from Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to impose the mandatory tariff.
New Department of Justice figures reveal 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 revealed judges had imposed the full term in just five of 130 cases in the two-year period since the introduction of the sentence.
The new figures revealed in today's Irish Times represent the first confirmation that nothing has changed in the intervening five years, during which time the drugs trade and gun crime have grown exponentially.
Mr McDowell has already said he expects these sentences to be fully implemented. However, the low number of drug dealers sentenced to 10 years last year reveals such statements by the Minister have been ignored by judges.
Answering questions in the Dáil in February 2004, he said he was "disappointed that the judiciary has not taken to it in the way the House had intended, nor is it being applied with the vigour the House had expected it would be".
The new figures were released to Labour's Joe Costello who said Mr McDowell should consider introducing a UK-style drug classification system. If drugs were categorised class A, B or C it might lead to a situation where proportionate sentences were handed down more often.
"The Minister really should pay attention to that system," he said.
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. The circumstances include whether the offender pleaded guilty, under what circumstances and at what stage.
Mr McDowell has repeatedly voiced his disquiet at the manner in which the exercise of discretion has become the norm. 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.
Similar safeguards have been included in the elements of the Act which provide for mandatory sentencing for firearms offences of between five and 10 years.
Only in exceptional and specific circumstances, and in the case of a first offence only, can a court exercise discretion to impose a lesser sentence.