Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The points Ms Deane made would not be addressed by Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill but it is good that we are having the discussion. We need to look at the reasons people commit crimes, why they breach their bail conditions, who is charged with monitoring that and sharing the information and the interagency lack of co-operation. If that was introduced properly, we would not be having this conversation about tying the hands of judges, because that is all this does. It assumes the information the Judiciary is getting is accurate, when there is a big argument to be had about beefing up Garda information, probation officer reports and all of that sort of backup and support.

I do not want to add too much but this is important. To have 23% of women prisoners on remand is incredibly troubling because of the destabilising impact. The evidence is there to show the impact that putting a woman into prison has on a family, with children being taken into care and so on, and this is far worse than in the case of a man. We need to look at that. Incarceration is always damaging. Putting people in earlier if they are going to reoffend when they finish their sentence is not dealing with the issue, which is more complex. Legislation like this does not help.