Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 5 November 2015

Public Accounts Committee

Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General 2014
Vote 21: Prisons
Vote 24: Department of Justice and Equality
Chapter 9: Development of Prison Accommodation in Dublin

10:00 am

Mr. Noel Waters:

With respect, I do not think so. What the Minister has announced and what the Department supports is that in certain limited circumstances electronic monitoring has a role in respect of serious and serial offenders as part of their bail conditions. Our concern at the moment is that if electronic tagging is introduced right now, the system will collapse under the weight of it because of the numbers of people involved. That is what we are saying.