Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with much of what Ms Deane said, in particular that judicial discretion is important and should be retained. On the legislation and section 2, on Committee Stage, I expressed the view that paragraphs (c) and (d), on their own, would expand the circumstances in which a judge could refuse bail. This may be worthy of consideration. Section 1(a) and 1(b) would make that an imperative. I also urge caution regarding section (2B)(a). If my understanding of this is correct - I did not raise this on Second Stage - it is possible that if somebody is charged with two relevant offences and facing another relevant offence, he or she could be refused bail without being convicted of an offence. It would be far beyond existing practice if people could be refused bail without ever having been convicted. I ask Deputy O'Callaghan to clarify if I am correct that if a person has been charged with two relevant offences and is facing a further charge, he or she can be refused bail.

There is a difficulty in regard to the mandatory imposition of conditions. The general intent of this is that it makes it as good as automatic. The solution to bail issues lies in supervision and in pursuit of breach of bail. There are countless incidences, detailed in "Prime Time Investigates", of the frequency with which people have breached their conditions of bail and committed crimes.

Very often the conditions of their bail have been breached and bail can be suspended on account of that. We need much stronger structures and resourcing to ensure that breaches of bail are pursued. I discovered an answer to a parliamentary question revealing that there were 9,000 examples of bench warrants executed for breaches of bail in 2017. Can any of the speakers offer a comment on that? What more can be done by the Garda or any other statutory body to ensure that where bail is breached, that breach is pursued?