A FIANNA Fail Minister for Justice referred the bail issue to the Law Reform Commission in January 1994. This Government's programme promised to examine the LRC's review of bail law and procedure.
Demands for a change in the bail laws have emerged sporadically since the 1966 Supreme Court judgment in the O'Callaghan case. The court ruled that a belief that a defendant might commit further crime was not a sufficient reason to refuse bail.
Mr Justice Brian Walsh said in his judgment in the case that to rule otherwise would be to allow a "form of preventive justice which has no place in our legal system and it would be quite contrary to the concept of personal liberty enshrined in the Constitution".
Bail can now only be denied if there is a likelihood that a defendant may not face trial or may interfere with witnesses before the trial. The rise in the number of offences committed on bail, particularly between 1993 and 1994, has brought renewed political pressure for change.
In 1993 the Fianna Fail Minister, Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn, resisted a Fine Gael Private Member's Motion on the topic on the grounds that the LRC report should be awaited. Last year, the Fine Gael Minister, Ms Owen, resisted a Fianna Fail Private Member's Motion on the same subject.
Politicians of all parties are now calling for "something" to be done. Fianna Fail put two specific proposals last year one which would simply fine tune the present system, the other which would bring radical change in legal principle. The first was in a Private Member's Bill setting out conditions that could be attached to, bail. Later in the year, it proposed a constitutional amendment which would change the legal principle on which accused people get bail.
The proposed amendment would have said "any person charged with an indictable offence may be remanded in custody pending trial if on the hearing of all application for bail a judge is satisfied that there is a probability that the person will commit a class of criminal offence which is also an indictable offence."
Basically, this would allow a judge to refuse bail if he or she believed the accused would probably commit crimes while on bail.
Ms Liz O'Donnell, the Progressive Democrat spokeswoman on Justice, is at one with Fianna Fail spokesman Mr John O Donoghue in supporting a constitutional referendum. She has said move to amend the Constitution to make bail more difficult for recurrent offenders would receive widespread support.
Amid the concern to do something, the views of the Law Reform Commission, which reported late last year, appear to be left on a shelf. The commission said refusing bail to people thought likely to commit further crime may not be the best way to reduce crime.
The report stressed there were legal and constitutional difficulties in detaining someone on suspicion they might commit a further offence, as well as the cost of the extra prison space needed.
Bringing accused persons to trial more quickly may be the best remedy, the LRC said. The provision of more judges would contribute to this and the recently passed Courts and Court Officers Act provides for this. The Department of Justice says it expects the delays in bringing people to trial sometimes over a year will be eliminated once the new judges (up to 15) are appointed.
This is not the first time the Minister for Justice has proposed changes in the bail regime. The last time March 12th last year she annoyed her Labour and Democratic Left Government partners by announcing a proposed referendum before it had been discussed by Cabinet. This time, there appears to be political consensus that something must be done. In six weeks time, the Minister is due to reveal the nature of the "something".