Mr. Vivian Geiran:

I certainly have that concern. On the earlier point, the Deputy is absolutely correct in saying that by definition, in both items of legislation we are dealing with people who have been identified, convicted and so on. It is certainly the reality. If I can borrow a phrase from Dr. Fitzgerald-O'Reilly, there is no silver bullet, legislation or technical measure like electronic monitoring that would, in itself, stop offending. This needs to be couched in the systemic approach.

With regard to the idea of driving people underground, it is a serious matter that we face, as Ms Counihan mentioned, on a regular basis. Offenders coming from prison under our supervision, for example, are sometimes followed from the prison to our office by sections of the media and so on and they can subsequently have their location outed. As a result they may go underground, which is certainly a difficulty and does not help in any way the rehabilitation process.