Mr. Noel Waters:

In the context of the overall prison population, the variation in numbers and how they change from one to the other, the Deputy put his finger on something relating to bail and concerns in the community about people who have committed offences and who are on bail. It may be the case that a future Government may decide to restrict bail. The Minister has committed to changing the legislation around that but a future Government may well decide to go further. It may also decide to introduce further consecutive sentences in some cases. There is debate around this. There is no question that all those things will have an impact on the prison population. We cannot have a situation where, for example, a person who is committed to a prison in respect of an offence committed on bail ends up dislodging a person who is there on a sentenced offence.