Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That point has been adequately addressed. There is no delay involved whatsoever. The issue is black and white. In terms of the Minister's point about issues arising years later and that one could never get the information, the information is supposed to be kept so there should not be any difficulty in accessing it. If it is digitally recorded in particular then it will be accessible. It is not just the applicant for bail who is concerned; in some instances people have really struggled to find out why decisions were made. It could also be the victim who might want to know in order to understand why the decision was made and to help the process. That is entirely appropriate.

We have seen decisions in very horrific cases in some instances where a person was granted bail and went on to commit a crime afterwards, one that has stayed with family members and with which they grappled for the rest of their lives. Such a person might like to find out the reasons a judge made such a decision to let a person out when the person subsequently went on to commit a crime. Those decisions should be available in writing as they would act as a safeguard. There is no basis for saying the provision would be cumbersome. The request would come after the decision and nobody's rights are impaired. If the information is there it should be available at the touch of a button for it to be added to a report. It would not involve a huge amount of work. As Deputy O'Brien so admirably put it, if there was a cost to the Exchequer we would have heard about it before now.

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