Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to see a fellow Kerryman leading off in the Seanad. I am sure he will agree that a smart man makes a mistake, learns from it and never makes it again, but a wise man finds a smart man and learns not to make the same mistake. I am sure the Government could not be accused of doing either. In the newspapers today we see that 500 people who had been disqualified from driving were involved in accidents that resulted in injury and, in some cases, tragically, death. All of these deaths could have been prevented if the Government had allowed smart policing and the police force to have the equipment and the wherewithal needed to enforce the law. We have seen gangs travelling around the country and terrorising communities, yet their members are out on bail and the Garda does not know where they are. If we were to provide for smart policing, it would allow the Garda to know where criminals were at all times. Believe it or not, section 102 of the Criminal Justice Act allows for the tagging of those charged with serious offences who are out on bail awaiting trial However, but it has not been commenced and thus is not available to the Garda. I am sure Members will be aware that 62% of those released from prison reoffend and that 80% of offences are carried out within the first 12 months. It would cost €6.45 a day to smart-tag somebody while out on bail or early release; it costs €264 a day to keep someone in jail. One does not have to smart or a wise man like Senator Paul Coghlan to know that this would be smart government. If a person electronically tagged were to be stopped at a Garda checkpoint, a garda could check using a smartphone and would be able to take the appropriate action. If section 102 of the Criminal Justice Act had been commenced, the 500 incidences in which injuries and deaths occurred might have been prevented. I am calling for a debate with the Minister for Justice and Equality on the reason that section is not in use, given that it would allow those currently on bail and awaiting trial and those on early release to be smart-tagged. Why does the Garda not know where they are at all times? If they were to commit an offence, the Garda would have the evidence to show that they were in the said location at the time. Given what we read in the newspapers today, the 500 drivers in question should be smart-tagged. If they had been, the injuries and deaths caused could have been prevented.