Dáil debate highlights killing of five people by offenders on bail

The killing of five people by individuals out on bail was highlighted in the Dáil as Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald introduced legislation to strengthen bail laws.

The Bail (Amendment) Bill will introduce electronic tagging 10 years after it was first included in legislation and provide for stricter bail terms for serious offenders and the use of curfews.

It will increase Garda powers to arrest individuals on bail without an arrest warrant if a garda believes it would prevent them harming their victim or any person they were not permitted to contact as part of their bail, Ms Fitzgerald said.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said 89 people were killed in the past 10 years by people out on Bail. He said 123 kidnappings were carried out and 237 sexual offences were committed by people on bail.

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List of crimes

Mr O’Callaghan said Sylvia Roche Kelly was killed by a man on bail for two crimes in December 2007 – the assault of a female taxi driver and the kidnapping of a child. He said Garda Tony Golden was shot dead in October 2015 by a man on bail at the time.

Swiss student Manuela Riedo in 2007 was raped and killed by a man on bail for a violent assault against his ex-girlfriend.

Paul Kelly was killed in April 2007 by a Dublin man out on bail with 26 previous convictions, he said. And John McManus was killed in February 2009 by a man on bail.

Mr O’Callaghan said he could not be assured those people would still be alive if the people who killed them had not been on bail. “But it is a relevant fact to whether our bail laws should be strengthened by people on bail.”

Independents4Change TD Clare Daly said, however, that in the case of Sylvia Roche Kelly it was not the bail laws that were at fault but that the judge was not given accurate information by gardaí.