Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of crimes committed by persons while on bail in each of the past five years; the number of such crimes deemed to be serious; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15904/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Our legislative provisions for the granting of bail are very stringent. The sixteenth amendment of the Constitution provides for the refusal of bail to a person charged with a serious offence where it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person. The Bail Act 1997 gave effect to the amendment and tightened up the bail regime generally. Furthermore, the Criminal Justice Act 1984 provides that any sentence of imprisonment passed on a person for an offence committed shall be consecutive on any sentence passed on him or her for a previous offence. The granting of bail in accordance with the Act, the amount of bail and sentencing are matters for the courts which are, subject only to the Constitution and the law, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions.

In relation to bail in general, I would point out to the Deputy that during the term of office of the rainbow coalition the number of prisoners on temporary release reached an all time high of 20% at one stage. As a result of the action of this Government this so called revolving door system operated by the rainbow coalition has been stopped and the percentage of the prison population on temporary release now is approximately 2.3%. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the number of headline offences, by group, committed by persons on bail for years 2004 and 2005 are set out in the following table.

I am further informed that 2004 was the first year information relating to the offences committed by persons on bail was published from the PULSE crime recording system. Comparable statistics for years prior to 2004 are not readily available and would require a disproportionate expenditure of Garda time and resources to extract the data from manual records.

The statistics in the Commissioner's report classify offences committed while on bail under the ten headline crime groups under which the report's statistics are categorised. It is important to note that all offences in, for example, the homicide group are not the homicide offences of murder and manslaughter. The homicide group of headline offences also includes the offences of attempted murder, murder threats, infanticide, abortion and procuring or assisting in an abortion.

I believe that these figures require further examination. I have therefore requested the Garda authorities to provide as a matter of urgency a detailed breakdown of the statistics given in the annual report and to provide additional information. Among the matters on which I have requested further information are data on the offences for which the offenders were on bail when they committed the subsequent offence and how many have been convicted of that subsequent offence. I expect to receive the information requested shortly, when it will be examined in my Department. Depending on the outcome of that examination, further research into the figures may be warranted with a view to seeing whether action is required.