Mr. Mark Toland:

PULSE has an application system but the numbers of people who are currently signing on at Garda stations are astronomical and very difficult to manage. Police services internationally have tried to restrict the number of people who can sign on in police stations. It is effective for certain individuals but other jurisdictions are moving towards curfews whereby a police officer checks on an individual at a certain time, perhaps without telling him or her in advance when the check will take place. Once an individual has signed in at a Garda station, there is no system in place to monitor him or her, whereas an individual on a curfew can be restricted to certain areas and times.

I do not think supervision of bail through PULSE will work. We recommend a new system for people on bail who are high risk which would involve an offender management integrated multi-agency approach, with the Garda and the Probation Service as key partners focusing on these high risk individuals. There is a good system for young offenders but we recommend that the agencies responsible for monitoring high-risk individuals should be collocated so that they share information better and ensure such individuals are checked on frequently and, where they breach bail, brought back before the courts. We have found that not every breach of bail identified in the report was brought before the courts. Not every court wants the individual concerned brought back on the first breach of bail and gardaí do not have powers of arrest of people in breach of bail. They have to get a summons or a warrant. Our recommendations would enhance the power to enforce breach of bail conditions by taking immediate action.

I visited several busy Garda stations in which huge numbers were signing on. I am not convinced that an individual who did not sign on at a particular time would be noticed immediately. That represents a risk and the report identifies that concern.

The report's recommendations are not solely aimed at the Garda Síochána because other agencies also play a key role in this area. The various agencies could work together better because the system needs to be managed by more than the Garda. There is an opportunity to investigate the potential of an integrated offender management, multi-agency team that can deal with people on bail who are high risk.