THE bail referendum offered a chance "to redress the balance of the criminal justice system in favour of the common good". A Yes vote was therefore vital, according to Mr Noel Carroll, chief executive of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
Surveys conducted by the chamber showed that Dublin business people considered crime to be their main problem.
Mr Carroll said 97 per cent of retailers surveyed and 85 per cent of business people favoured a tightening of bail laws and he pointed out that crime and security cost Dublin businesses £160 million last year.
"The annual report of the Garda Commissioner for 1995 showed that 5,440 detected indictable offences were committed by persons on bail. This represents 13.6 per cent of all detected indictable offences during the period in question.
"The 1993 Law Reform Commission's report shows that 27 per cent of detected armed robberies' were committed on bail. These statistics refer to detected crime. It is generally estimated that detection rates are in the order of 33 per cent, so the existing statistics are likely to be very much underestimated."
He pointed out that, under the proposed amendment, bail would only be refused if "reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence". It left a "not inconsiderable hurdle" to the refusal of bail.
Those who should be targeted included "organised criminals and drug traffickers, recidivist offenders such as paedophiles and other sexual offenders, violent criminals, persistent joyriders and ramraiders and professional burglars". It was in everyone's interest that "these people are not allowed offend while on bail".
The director of the Fine Gael campaign, Mr Charles Flanagan, TD, said opponents of the amendment chose to ignore the Law Reform Commission's conclusion that Ireland had relatively liberal bail laws. He pointed out that jurisdictions examined by the commission allowed the question of the commission of further crimes, if bail were to be granted, to be taken into account.
"I contend that our problem is" so great that we cannot afford to be without a weapon in the fight against crime that all these other countries believe to be so necessary, the Right to Bail people are at a loss to explain why the European Convention on Human Rights specifically allows measures such as the one proposed by the Government to be taken," Mr Flanagan said.
He rejected a suggestion that the new bail regime would apply to petty crime: "Firstly, the wording which will be enshrined in the
Constitution only refers to a serious crime and secondly, under the outline legislation published, the court must have regard to the degree of seriousness of that offence. It is outrageous therefore for anybody to suggest that relatively petty offences will be covered by the new bail regime.
"This referendum provides a practical opportunity for people who are seriously concerned about crime to use their vote to ultimately improve the quality of life in our society," Mr Flanagan said.