Local TD Matt Carthy has described the confirmation that suspects in 40,348 crimes in 2024 were on bail as shocking.
This was an increase of almost 5,000 since 2022. The combined figure for the past three years of suspects implicated in crime while on bail amounted to 114,655.
The Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice said these figures released to him in a Parliamentary Question response are truly shocking. This week in the Dáil he raised his concerns with the justice minister and called for bail laws to be examined to ensure that they are being appropriately applied where there is a risk of someone committing further crimes while on bail.
Deputy Carthy said that the minister must address this issue as a matter of urgency, adding that if the bail laws are not working, as these figures suggest, then the minister must act so we can deliver safe communities and reduce the level of crime.
Micheal Martin in the Dáil questioned if Sinn Fein were proposing wholescale interment. The party's Matt Carthy denied that's the case:
