Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I remind Deputy Mattie McGrath that the people we are discussing are on bail and have not been convicted of an offence, which is the reason they are on bail. The Deputy has them convicted and hanged. I also remind him that the cost of incarceration is a considerable burden on taxpayers. If we can get this system working and keep people out of prison, we will all be better off, even financially.

I warn Deputies that Ireland will find itself swimming against the tide in Europe if the amendment is not accepted. I base my view on the Council of Europe's handbook, Standards and Ethics in Electronic Monitoring, which examines different systems. It refers, for example, to the system in place in the Netherlands, which is delivered by the public sector and run by a private organisation. It discusses countries that are considering electronic monitoring, such as Estonia, Latvia and Croatia, none of which has a problem with public not-for-profit delivery of electronic monitoring. The report states that the Scandinavian-Dutch-Belgian public sector model of electronic monitoring service delivery has largely prevailed in the longer term over the Anglo-Welsh preference for a privatised model. Put another way, if we do not accept the amendment, we will be out of step with the majority of countries in Europe.

My amendment takes account of the fact that some contracts for electronic monitoring may be in place with private, for-profit providers. Some of the provisions would not kick in until these contracts are renewed and the amendment would not, as Deputy O'Callaghan stated, prevent a private company from getting involved in electronic tagging. The State could fix a price to have a private company provide a service. The point of the amendment is to exclude the incentive of profit being linked to the scheme. A private company could be employed as an outsourced provider. This is an important amendment which I intend to press.

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