Ms Fíona Ní Chinnéide:

I thank the Deputy for the question. As she pointed out, given the headlines this morning it is important that we are having this conversation. I echo everything Dr. Rogan said. We welcome the data and research strategy of the Department of Justice and Equality and also the active recruitment that is happening at the same time. Hopefully, in the future we will have more evidence on which to base our responses to public concerns and public safety.

I will just add a few figures to what Dr. Rogan said. We do not know what the drivers are in the absence of information but we can see certain trends. I have chosen to use 31 October to give us a snapshot of the past five years, given that is the most up-to-date date. On 31 October 2018, there were 809 prisoners on remand for trial; on 31 October 2017, it was 745; and on 31 October 2016, it was 648. This is in line with Dr. Rogan's point about there being an extra 200. Yesterday, 18% of people in prison were on remand but 23.3% of women in prison were on remand. We must be mindful that women in prison are more likely to be there for less serious offences, which is an issue that needs to be examined.

To go back to the issue of bail and the most effective use of resources, the bail supervision scheme is being run by Extern at Oberstown. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs awarded Extern just under €490,000 to run the scheme in 2017, for which it engaged and supported 24 young people. That has to be considered in light of the fact the cost of holding a young person in Oberstown is €350,000 to €400,000 each. We are looking at the most effective but also the least damaging way of dealing with this. We have to be mindful that detention has multiple damaging effects, be it of an adult with caring responsibilities or a child, for whom detention must be a sanction of last resort.