The life sentence for rape imposed yesterday in the Central Criminal Court is not unprecedented, but extremely rare.
In the majority of rape cases, those found guilty receive a sentence of between seven and 10 years.
In 1999 two life sentences were handed down for rape, but one was overturned and the other was suspended for all but eight years.
A life sentence was imposed on the former nun, Ms Nora Wall, whose conviction for raping a girl in a children's home was later overturned when the DPP did not oppose her appeal. Subsequently, she was deemed innocent.
The other life term was imposed in 1999 on a man who was sentenced for raping his former girlfriend. Mr Justice Carney suspended all but eight years, less statutory remission, of the sentence.
He said in court that life sentences had been advocated as a way of controlling the behaviour of the defendant.
However, in another case in 1996, Thomas Gerard Stokes was jailed for life for the abduction and rape of a woman in the Wicklow mountains while she worked as a prostitute.
Mr Justice Moriarty imposed life for the rape and concurrent terms of 12 years for the kidnapping and the maximum five years for the sexual assault.
Figures provided by the Courts Service show that last year, of the 97 rape cases tried in the Circuit Criminal Court, there were no life sentences; six were over 10 years; 58 received sentences of over two and under 10 years; with most of this group being sentenced to between five and 10 years' imprisonment.
The infrequency of life sentences for rape can be seen in the light of the number of rape cases in the Central Criminal Court, which has been rising in recent years. In 1996 there were 48 rape cases before the court; 1997, 72; 1998, 130; 1999, 130; and in 2000, 113.