Electronic Tagging
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-07
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Catherine Ardagh (FF), Dublin South-Central

I thank the Senator very much for her kind words. I also thank her for volunteering Limerick for the trial. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, is pursuing a dual approach to address the issue of prison overcrowding by increasing prison capacity and pursuing further measures to support increasing the use of non-custodial sanctions like the Senator mentioned. The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration is leading a cross-agency project to introduce electronic monitoring of specific categories of individuals, as committed to in the programme for Government and in line with existing legal provisions. A number of scenarios are covered by the legislation currently which allow for electronic monitoring, in particular provisions which allow for the tagging of people on temporary release and in some circumstances people on bail, as the Senator outlined. My thoughts are with the victim of the crime that was committed while the assailant was on bail. Electronic monitoring has the potential to act as another avenue to tackle overcrowding in our prison system.
Existing legislation, including the Bail Act 1997, as amended, and the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as amended, provides for electronic monitoring in certain circumstances. A steering group is in place made up of sectoral representatives who are driving the delivery of this project to operationalise electronic monitoring. This includes consideration of technology, data protection, procurement, implementation and an operating model design. The electronic monitoring pilot will focus on individuals on temporary release nationally and those admitted to bail in the pilot area. It is proposed to utilise up to 50 electronic tags during this phase. This is expected to provide capacity to monitor between 90 and 150 people in a year, but exact numbers monitored will depend on a range of factors including the individual's length of time on bail or on temporary release, and an individual's personal circumstances, including ongoing suitability and compliance with conditions.
The pilot approach will allow for processes and procedures to be tested for a wider scale national roll-out, while also supporting the agencies involved to build capability and knowledge of the electronic monitoring system. Insights from the pilot will inform any future national roll-out procurement. Under budget 2026, funding of €2.1 million was allocated for the project to allow for staffing, procurement and other set-up costs. The electronic monitoring project is progressing and is expected to be operational in 2026. The request for tender closed on 14 April and I am advised that a number of tenders were received by the deadline. As this is a live competition, I am precluded from making further comments on the process. All updates regarding this competition will be made through the national tendering portal - eTenders.
I note that, as of March, 12 probationary gardaí were assigned to the Limerick division. They are having a huge impact. People have commented to me as a public representative that they are feeling safer. They have been quite successful. Operation Thor has been ongoing for quite some time. It combats burglaries and organised crime in more rural areas, especially where the national road network is being used.
As Senator Ryan is aware, a lot of progress is being made by the Department when it comes to retail crime. When combined, all of these will hopefully have a huge effect on businesses and individuals in Limerick. Obviously I cannot commit to saying where the pilot will be, but I thank Senator Ryan for her suggestion.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-07