Ms Jane Mulcahy:

I will make a small point on monitoring bail conditions. As I understand it, the prosecuting garda, or the garda who objects to bail in court, might ask for a plethora of bail conditions but there is a lack of clarity as to whether the individual member is then responsible for monitoring compliance. This is a factor, because if he or she is not, then who is? Certain conditions are easier than others to monitor, such as conditions to report and sign on at a Garda station, as it is easy enough to see whether someone is doing this. Monitoring the curfew condition is often used in the context of burglary, which is deemed to be night-time offending. If there is a lack of clarity as to who is monitoring these conditions, they may not be monitored at all. At the same time, they are there for the asking.

The point on funding the Judiciary was quite specific on funding additional courts for trials in the Circuit Court or ensuring the existing courts are open for business all day, because some of them are not. It is about using existing resources to the maximum to be as efficient as possible.