Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

No. The figures speak for themselves. As I stated, 27,000 offences amount to a reduction of 8% on the previous year. One offender could have committed ten offences. That is how they are compiled and it does not represent the overall figure for number of offenders.

Of course, we all are worried about people who are out on bail. As I stated earlier, as Deputy Flanagan knows well, the Judiciary is independent in the way in which it operates and under the Constitution everyone is entitled to his or her freedom, subject to conditions, until proven guilty. Those are the parameters within which we must operate.

When I came into office there had been changes made in 2007 to restrict bail even more, but the strong advice to me is that we cannot go too much further or else we will contravene, not just under the Constitution but under the European Convention on Human Rights, the personal freedom of persons.

As I stated earlier, we are trying to tighten up a number of issues, bring in new conditions and lower the bar in relation to seriousness of offences where there would be a more strict criteria on the granting of bail. That work is ongoing and I want to bring it forward as soon as possible.

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