David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am here on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, who sends her apologies as she cannot be present. I thank the Senator for raising this issue and for his thoughtful and well-researched presentation.

As the Senator will be aware, the programme for Government gives a commitment to the preparation and fast-tracking of new bail legislation. The new Bail (Amendment) Bill, which recently completed Second Stage in the Dáil, will expand the factors a court may take into account in refusing bail, will increase the range of conditions that may be attached to bail, will enable victim evidence to be heard in certain circumstances and will require the court to give reasons for its decisions.

In addition, the Bill will make provision for electronic monitoring of persons on bail based on existing but uncommenced provisions in the Bail Act 1997. Unlike the existing provisions, the new Bill provides that electronic monitoring may be imposed as a bail condition only if the prosecution applies to the court for such a condition. This will ensure that the use of electronic monitoring can be targeted at those cases where it is most likely to be effective.

In parallel with the progress of the Bill, the Department of Justice and Equality has established a working group to examine issues surrounding electronic monitoring. The group is comprised of officials from the Department of Justice and Equality, the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service, the Courts Service, An Garda Síochána and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The working group has been tasked with examining the suitability of the category of offences that should be focused on, examining the suitability of the category of alleged offenders that should be focused on, examining similar best practice examples from neighbouring jurisdictions, examining how any new electronic monitoring system will interact with other existing supervisory schemes, examining the arrangements to be put in place for contracting out this type of monitoring service and examining the resource implications for the implementation of any new system.

I can inform the Senator that the working group has already met three times since its inception in December 2016 and will continue to work in a focused way on this issue. The working group intends to make its recommendations for consideration as soon as possible in line with the progress of the legislation through the Oireachtas.