Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thanks Senators for their contributions. Some critical points have been made. Senator Paul Daly and other Senators are concerned by the scale of offending that is carried out by persons on bail. That is an issue that needs to be addressed and I share those concerns. That is one of the reasons I have brought forward this Bill with its particular provisions.

It is clear from Senators' contributions that people are equally concerned that the rights of accused persons be respected. That is a balance I have tried to reach with the Bill. We want to make the law as effective as possible in protecting the public against crimes committed by persons on bail and also safeguard the rights of individuals. We must get that balance right. The Bill will give greater guidance to the courts, which is important.

The Bill is victim-centred. The Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016, which will soon be dealt with on Report Stage, and the EU victims directive, which must be implemented, will bring about a sea change in the administration of justice and put much-needed emphasis on the rights of victims across the criminal justice system and agencies. The Bill is sensitive to the needs of victims, which is very important.

I take on board the points regarding the complexity of cases and the access to justice in a timely way made by Senator McDowell, particularly given his experience and expertise in this area. We need to examine how the complexity can best be dealt with and what initiatives can be taken to ensure justice is done in a timely manner. A number of initiatives I have taken will contribute in this area. One such initiative is support for the Courts Service IT requirements. That is very important and has been under-invested in in the past. Mr. Justice Peter Kelly is head of newly-formed group which is examining court procedures, how they can be modernised and what lessons can be learned from other jurisdictions. He has begun that work and I am very grateful to him for chairing the group and initiating that review. It will be helpful.

There are other issues. Senator McDowell mentioned a culture around bail and it being something to which we have become used. The Senator is correct that that needs to be questioned. The time period for evidence gathering by the Garda needs to be examined. The Senator is not the only one who has noticed that timeframes of trials are very different in other jurisdictions such as the United States or the UK. That is a very real issue. We need to consider what initiatives should be taken to make a difference on this issue. We need to be more intolerant of the timeframes currently in operation.

There is much pressure on the courts also. I have been concerned by the question of resources for the courts. Extra resources have been allocated to the Courts Service.There are also practical considerations such as the environment in which the courts operate, for example, the new family court building in Hammond Lane will provide far better facilities for family law cases, among others. We have not had the right conditions up to now. The criminal courts have a very good environment in which to operate now but there is work to be done on that as well.

Regarding an arrest by the Garda without a warrant, Senator McDowell made the point that it is circumscribed, and that it is very carefully laid out. An example would be where an accused person who has been prohibited from contacting a victim as a condition of bail pulls up outside the victim's house and there is clearly an intention to go in. Although the person has been told that he or she should not do so, it is terrifying for the victim. I do not think the victim should have to wait for the person to gain entry into the house, given the circumstances where there is an order that the person has been prohibited from contacting the victim. Depending on the history and the details and conditions of bail it is reasonable to say that if a victim is in a terrifying situation and makes contact with the Garda in those circumstances, it is one where that judgment will have to be made by the Garda and it is a reasonable one to have. Much of the Bill has come about from discussing with people who are involved in those issues day to day and their experience on the ground of what is needed.

A number of points have been made about electronic monitoring. The Senators are correct that it is not a panacea in terms of the issues we are talking about today but it is one element to be considered in certain cases. The group that we have established to look at the issue is examining what offences might be considered in terms of the best use of such monitoring. It is reasonable to allow private security companies to tender for the service as well, but it is not a blank cheque for them or anything like that. The measure must be used very carefully. It is the prosecution that can now ask for it. The measure will allow costs to be controlled and it can be imposed in cases where it is most likely to be effective. However, it is only one element of dealing with the issues we are talking about today.

Senators Conway and Black spoke about support and resources. There is much interesting work going on between the prison and probation services now to prevent people going into prison in the first place, but where there are repeat offenders and recidivist behaviour they target and work effectively with that group of offenders. For the first time ever there has been serious work in a focused way between the Probation Service, the Prison Service and the Garda. The results to date are very encouraging because of the very intense focus on repeat offenders and looking at all of the factors that are affecting repeat offending and recidivism. I expect we will get really good results from that as well as from the youth diversion programmes. We are putting more and more resources into such work. We are seeing the number of prisoners decrease and more focus on rehabilitation. That is important to consider where it is feasible. Where people commit serious crimes and it is clear that they need to be kept in prison that must be done to protect the public.

I thank Senators for their broad support for this Bill and I look forward to further discussion on it. Senator Ó Donnghaile said he had a number of amendments. I have addressed quite a few of them in the Dáil because they were tabled already and I have given my perspective on them. I do not envisage that I will be changing my position because I have gone into quite a bit of detail in my response to the amendments but I look forward to the discussion.