Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 498: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if and when he will review bail procedures. [18422/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Following signature by the President and consultation with the Garda Síochána and the Courts Service, an order signed by my predecessor brought 54 sections and two Schedules of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007, into operation either with immediate effect or, in some cases, with effect from 1 July.

The Act introduces a new requirement whereby applicants for bail may have to provide a statement of their means, their previous criminal record and details of any offences committed while previously on bail. It also provides that a Garda Superintendent may give an opinion that bail should be refused on the grounds that the applicant is likely to commit a serious offence if granted bail. Several changes were made to the technical rules relating to the operation of bail.

The aim of the changes is to enable the prosecution to more effectively challenge applications for bail and to improve the quality of decision-making in relation to bail applications, in particular those from persons charged with serious offences. The new bail regime introduced in the Act of 2007 will be assessed in a formal annual review process. The review will determine whether further amendments to the operation of the bail system are required.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 499: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make provisions to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal against the quashing of convictions; and when he anticipates such provisions will take effect. [18423/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, we have a "without prejudice" system of prosecution appeals. The implications of this are that if an appeal is successful, the point of law will have been clarified in favour of the prosecution but the court does not actually reverse the acquittal. In addition, our law does not provide a prosecution right of appeal in respect of an acquittal where new evidence is discovered or an allegation of trial tampering is made.

I am aware that there is a strong public interest in ensuring that a defendant who does in fact have a case to answer should not benefit by reason of an erroneous ruling of the trial judge or from the application of the principle against double jeopardy. For this reason my predecessor directed that consideration of this matter be included in the remit of the Balance in the Criminal Law Review Group which he established under the chairmanship of Dr Gerard Hogan S.C. last November to examine aspects of the criminal law. The final report of that Group was published on 23 March 2007. Amongst its many recommendations the report makes a number of recommendations for changes to our prosecution appeals system. In particular it recommends that:

a "with prejudice" right of redress against erroneous decisions by a trial judge should be introduced;

legislation should be enacted to give a right to the prosecution to complain in respect of miscarriages of justice in cases where there is new or newly discovered evidence, subject to certain safeguards;

a review of acquittals should be available in the event of interference with the process, whether the interference is in respect of the jury or otherwise.

While I am aware that there is considerable support in both Houses of the Oireachtas for change along the lines proposed by the Review Group — this was clear during the debate on the Criminal Justice Act 2007 — these recommendations are far-reaching and as such require careful consideration and consultation with various parties. Accordingly, I will be giving the issues further consideration before coming to a view on legislation in this area.