Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The objection to amendment No. 6 is that the situation is provided for, but if that is the case then I do not have any problem in seeing why it cannot be spelled out in legislation. While one would assume the courts would take such considerations into account there is no guarantee and a legislative foundation for that would not be any harm. Data protection is particularly important in this day and age and if provision is already made then why not seal the deal and leave no room for doubt by including it? I take note of the views of members. We can withdraw the amendment and consider tabling it again on Report Stage.

In terms of the private company, I question the privatisation of the criminal justice system. I do not have a problem in principle with electronic monitoring. The idea that it would be in operation as an alternative to a custodial sentence is economically efficient, it is efficient for society and it leaves the person in the community. The issue is how we view that and what supports are available. The German model is composed of civil servants, social workers and support staff and their response when the alarm goes off is to intervene with the person; it is not to haul them in or put a black mark against him or her. The intention is to try to de-escalate the situation. The various agencies decide whether to send out a social worker. They operate on a 24-7 basis and each shift has a social worker to go out and intervene and it is up to them to decide when they intervene with a person whether the police should be contacted. In fact, police contact only happens in approximately 5% of cases. That has meant people have been less likely to breach their bail conditions and less likely to go on and receive a custodial sentence later because they are given an opportunity to address the issues. The idea that one would have a company profiting from a vital public service is an ideological debate we could have in every arena but we will withdraw the amendment today and consider returning to it later.