Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 387: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has instituted a system for monitoring the extent to which warrants taken out against individuals remain unexecuted; the extent to which such persons engage in repeat offences; and the initiatives he proposes to stamp out the experience where individuals with multiple warrants out against them, or who are on bail, are still free to engage in vicious assaults. [22103/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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It is inevitable in any criminal justice system that at any given time there will be a significant number of warrants awaiting execution. It should be borne in mind too that the vast majority of the outstanding warrants relate to financial penalties, and not to violent crime. The Gardaí continue to give priority to the enforcement of warrants arising in serious cases. Aside from the large volume of warrants being issued, there can also be unavoidable reasons why warrants can take time to execute or, indeed, prove ultimately unenforceable. It is the case that many individuals would be subject to multiple warrants, and many are trying to evade Garda attention through moving to different addresses.

The Garda authorities are committed to strengthening the warrants enforcement process. The Commissioner has raised the issue of the execution of warrants with each Regional Assistant Commissioner and a range of measures, aimed at reducing the number of warrants on hand, have been identified and are being implemented. These measures include the re-assignment of additional Gardaí to this function. I understand that the position is being closely monitored by senior Garda management and consideration is also being given, at an organisational level, to further measures to address the situation.

I am also taking a number of steps to deal with this issue. A particular difficulty is that cases relating to the non-payment of fines clog up the courts system, since the Gardaí have to seek warrants to enforce their payment. A pilot project was introduced by my Department, under which outstanding fines were in effect pursued in terms of debt collection by an outside agency, rather than moving directly to the stage where the Gardaí seek a warrant. The result of the pilot suggests that as an alternative method of fine collection this proved successful. My Department, in consultation with the Gardaí and the Courts Service, is considering how best to take this forward.

The Third Programme of Law Reform of the Law Reform Commission has been approved by Government and is now underway. It includes an examination of the enforcement of court orders and the service of proceedings in both civil and criminal cases, in particular the procedure for the execution of bench warrants and search warrants. This topic was included because it is recognised that there are significant difficulties in this area at present and that the procedural problems in this area have resulted in inefficient use of resources.

I am aware of the importance of an efficient warrants process and will continue to monitor the operation of the system particularly with a view to making whatever changes may be necessary to improve its operation.

In relation to offences committed by persons on bail, the law already takes a serious view of such offences. The Criminal Justice Act, 1984 provides for mandatory consecutive sentences to apply where a person is convicted of an offence committed while on bail. In addition, the law provides that the fact that an offence was committed while on bail must be treated as an aggravating factor at sentencing and that the court shall impose a sentence that is greater than that which would have been imposed otherwise, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The granting of bail is a matter for the courts. The Director of Public Prosecutions, who is, of course, independent in the performance of his functions, represents the State for the purposes of dealing with such applications. It would obviously not be appropriate for me to comment on the circumstances in which bail may have been granted — or, indeed, refused — in particular cases.

Prior to the Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution bail could be refused essentially only on the grounds that a person would be likely to abscond or interfere with witnesses. The Bail Act, 1997, which gave effect to the terms of 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.

There have been concerns at how, in practice, our bail laws have been operating. These led to the inclusion in the Criminal Justice Act, 2007 of a series of new provisions designed to tighten up on the granting of bail. Those provisions have been in operation for just 12 months and their effectiveness will be reviewed. In addition I intend to keep all aspects of the operation of our bail law under review to see whether further changes are necessary.

While I accept that, in the operation of our bail laws, due regard has to be had to the presumption of innocence, regard has to be had too to the need to protect the community.