THE Bail Bill, which gives effect to last November's referendum decision to tighten the existing law, is to be published today. In addition to putting the constitutional change on a statutory footing, the Bill also proposes to introduce other changes to the bail claws.
Confirming her intention to publish the Bail Bill, 1997 the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, claimed yesterday that this legislation was "clearly one of the most important anti-crime measures introduced since the foundation of the State."
"I have taken the opportunity in the Bill not just to give effect to the amendment of the Constitution but to strengthen our bail laws generally. This represents a fundamental rebalancing of our criminal justice system in favour of the victims of crime and the law-abiding members of society generally," she added.
In line with the amendment, the Bail Bill proposes to allow a court to refuse bail to a person charged with a "serious offence" where it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a crime by the accused. A "serious offence" is defined in terms of one that carries a jail sentence of five years or more.
These proposals are in accordance with the outline published by the Government in advance of the referendum and the Bill sets out the criteria which will be applied by a judge in restricting bail.
The legislation also contains a provision for a renewal of a bail application where the trial has not started four months after bail was initially refused.
New provisions are included relating to amounts of cash or securities that must be lodged as part of bail. They also cover attaching conditions to bail and allow forfeiture of bail where the conditions are breached. Under the Bill, at least one-third of the amount to be lodged must be paid to the court in cash before bail is granted.
All bail will be subject to the condition that the accused will not commit any offence and be of good behaviour, but the courts can attach other conditions that it thinks appropriate.
The Progressive Democrats spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz O'Donnell, said she welcomed the "belated and long-awaited legislation" to give effect to the people's firm permission to the Dail to tighten up Ireland's "over-liberal bail laws".
However, she warned that problems still arose from the fact there would not be, sufficient prison spaces to deal with persons deprived of their liberty pending trial under the new provisions.