Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It is the case at present, as has been pointed out, that hearsay and opinion evidence is admissible on bail applications and I do not intend to diminish that now. As far as bail is concerned, it is my intention, save in the cases provided for in subsections (4) and (5), that there should generally be this statement of application for bail in the written form. Obviously, in run-of-the-mill District Court cases such as burglary, the district judge may well state that he or she is dispensing with the need for a written statement in this ordinary case and as it is common case that the person concerned has two previous convictions, there is no point in having him or her write the history of his life, and his or her assets are of no interest to the court.

The court has power to dispense completely with the written statement procedure if it thinks it is a waste of its time. I presume that in most cases the prosecutor would not require the filling out of this written document because it would merely delay proceedings. Where there is a contested case, what is necessary now is to put the applicant for bail into the circumstance of having to set out the facts of the matter and to back them up with evidence. This is because often the garda must get into the witness box and take an oath to give evidence on the application, but the applicant simply sits there concealing all sorts of matters, for instance, including facts such as that he or she has committed previous offences while on bail. In contested cases this will tie applicants to bail to some version of their own history, which is capable of being met by the prosecution.

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