Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not repeat what Deputy Daly had to say. However, I would like to make the point that all legislation is subject to a statutory review after 12 months. I know the Minister has said that she will look at this issue in the context of that review but we cannot take the Minister at her word because she may not be Minister for Justice and Equality in 12 months time. She may not even be the Minister for Justice and Equality in a couple of weeks time. That is the reality.

We have spent a lot of time on this legislation. It is important that there is a review of bail supports in terms of what is in place, what is needed, how much they will cost and so on. The onus must be on the Minister of the day, as part of that statutory review, to produce costed proposals on bail supports. I acknowledge that there will be an automatic review but usually that type of review is around how well the legislation is or is not working. It will not look at additional areas, such as bail supports, hostels and information schemes, all of which are critical to the bail process. I ask the Minister of State to take on board these amendments. I do not believe what is proposed will involve a huge programme of work given there will already be some sort of review. This is critical. It goes to the very essence of this legislation, which is to overhaul our bail laws. It is not possible to do that without taking account of the current supports in place, the gaps in that regard and how the process can be improved.

As pointed out by Deputy Daly, in the longer term the cost will be of benefit to the State. I hope that the Minister of State will take on board these proposals.

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