<p>
	Family of Elaine O&rsquo;Hara offered condolences by Garda Commissioner N&oacute;ir&iacute;n O&rsquo;Sullivan</p>
<p>
	Victim advocacy group AdVic has called for minimum tariffs for those imprisoned for life following the sentencing of murderer Graham Dwyer.</p>
<p>
	A decision on how long his sentence will be and whether or not to release him will be made by the Minister for Justice, on the advice of the Parole Board.</p>
<p>
	John O&rsquo;Keeffe, chief executive of AdVic, offered condolences to Ms O&rsquo;Hara&rsquo;s family and friends and said while the sentence imposed on Dwyer was welcome, the term &ldquo;life sentence&rdquo; was misleading.</p>
<p>
	Traumatic experience</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;Dwyer will technically be eligible for parole in seven years, so the phrase a minimum sentence of seven years is more apt,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;While this may seem like a subtle point, from a victim&rsquo;s family&rsquo;s perspective, the fact that their loved one&rsquo;s killer will have their case referred to the parole board after such a short period of time is a traumatic experience.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	He said this was one of the reasons why the group believes that tariffs, or minimum sentences, should be introduced for homicide offences.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;Changing our system to adopt minimum tariffs would go some way to offering clarity to victims&rsquo; families, the general public and offenders as to exactly how long killers will serve,&rdquo; Mr O&rsquo;Keeffe said.</p>
<p>
	He said research showed 63 per cent of victims&rsquo; families would like to see Ireland adopt a similar model to the British Criminal Justice Act 2003, which imposes minimum tariffs for murder.</p>
<p>
	Separately, Garda Commissioner N&oacute;ir&iacute;n O&rsquo;Sullivan said yesterday was a very traumatic day for the O&rsquo;Hara family.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;My thoughts are very much with them, indeed with all of the families involved,&rdquo; she said.</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/victims-group-calls-for-minimum-tariffs-for-life-sentence-murderers-1.2182802">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/victims-group-calls-for-minimum-tariffs-for-life-sentence-murderers-1.2182802</a></p>
