Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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260. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated cost of providing electronic tagging for a person on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51088/17]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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261. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated cost of providing electronic tagging for 100 persons on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51089/17]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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262. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated cost of providing electronic tagging for 500 persons on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51090/17]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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263. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated cost of providing electronic tagging for 1,000 persons on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51091/17]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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264. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the cost of providing electronic tagging for 2,000 persons on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51092/17]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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265. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the cost of providing electronic tagging for 2,500 persons on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51093/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 260 to 265, inclusive, together.

I must inform the Deputy that I am not currently in a position to provide any estimates in relation to the costs outlined in his questions.

By way of some background, the Deputy will be aware that provisions in respect of electronic monitoring of persons on bail are currently contained in section 6B of the Bail Act 1997, but have not yet been commenced.

Section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 2017, enacted on 28 June 2017, amends these existing provisions for the electronic monitoring of persons on bail to facilitate the focused and targeted use of monitoring in appropriate cases. The Act will provide that electronic monitoring may be imposed as a bail condition if the prosecution applies to the court for such a condition.

In parallel with the progress of the Act through the Oireachtas, a Working Group on Electronic Monitoring was established in my Department in December 2016. The Group, which has been tasked with examining a range of issues surrounding the implementation of electronic monitoring in an Irish context, 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.

It is anticipated that the Group will submit their final report to the Management Board of my Department in the near future. The Management Board will then consider the recommendations in the context of bringing the relevant legislative provisions into force.

The Deputy will be aware of the impact that speculation in relation to costs can have on commercial matters, particularly where there may be a requirement for a procurement process. In this context, I would expect that any recommendations made by the Working Group, which have a cost element associated with them, would be fully examined by the Management Board and careful thought given to any procurement implications that might arise.

Accordingly, it would be inappropriate and unhelpful to engage in any such speculation at this stage.