Victims' families today expressed anger at the huge number of people killed by offenders out on bail.
Annie Mulvaney
Out of a total of 60 violent deaths last year, 15 people died at the hands of offenders on bail at the time.
The Advocates for the Victims of Homicide (Advic) group said these were killings which could have been avoided.
"It is too high and I think with such a figure, the system should realise it's not working. Homicide is the worst crime of all and that is completely unacceptable," said secretary Annie Mulvaney.
Her 19-year-old son Brian was murdered in 2000 by a man who had been out on bail while facing charges in connection with a violent assault. Brian Willoughby (24) from Templeogue in Dublin, was sentenced to life imprisonment for beating the young man to death after a party.
Another man was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and a third was acquitted.
"In our case Brian Willoughby had committed the same crime against another person as he had against my son . . . my son should never have met that guy on that night," said Ms Mulvaney.
She and other members of Advic are meeting Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today to demand a change in the bail laws.
"It is too vague and it needs to be tightened. The guards are the ones dealing with those criminals all the time and if they object to bail, they have a reason to object to it and they should be listened to. The law should be there for that to take effect," she said.
The Garda statistics show that the 5,000 offences committed by people on bail included 242 assaults, 24 sexual assaults and 304 drugs offences. However, the vast majority of offences were thefts (2,784) and burglaries (1,071).
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said that while it sympathised with victims' families, new bail laws were not the answer to cutting the homicide rate.
Under the current law, judges can grant bail to a person depending on a number of factors including the seriousness of the offence, the likelihood of the person turning up for trial and whether there are Garda objections.
The homicide rate among bail offenders was disclosed for the first time in the Garda annual report published last month. Previously, the only information disclosed was the number of offences committed on bail.