Nearly 3,000 crimes committed by suspects on bail

Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward has said it is “shocking” that almost 3000 crimes were committed by young suspects on bail.

The combined figure for the past three years of youth suspects implicated in crime while on bail amounted to 2,851.

The Dublin Mid-West TD said, “this figure is far too high.”

“Our justice system needs to work better for our young people and our communities for everyone to feel safe.”

“The Minister writes in the response: “I would like to stress that it is totally unacceptable that offences are committed by people while on bail”, but what is he doing to make sure that this figure is as low as possible?

“I am the Sinn Féin spokesperson on youth justice and community safety, and I want to ensure that we have a youth justice system that is both fair to our young people and is safe for the public,” he said.

“We need better youth diversion programmes and we need to utilise methods that reduce reoffending.”

He said that the Bail Supervision Service needs to be better funded and the Probation Service needs to be better resourced so that it can lead these services.

He noted that if such programmes were funded, it would free up Gardaí resources and allow them to be on the ground in local communities.

In 2024, there were 61 incidents of attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences, were the main suspect was a young person on bail.

He said this lapse was “very concerning; more needs to be done.”

There were also 28 cases of dangerous or negligent acts committed by people out on bail.

“I have always said that detention should be a last resort and be used for the most  for serious crimes,” he said, but stated, “these  examples of serious crimes are shocking and clearly what we have in place is not working.”

“There needs to be consequences for any young person who commits a crime and the current system is not working.

“At present Oberstown Children Detention Campus is at full capacity and sometimes Judges have no option but to give bail over detention.

“The Minister must address the shocking number of crimes carried out by youth suspects on bail as a matter of urgency,” he said.

“If we are to deliver safe communities and reduce the level of crime, we cannot accept a situation where this level of reoffending is being carried out by young people on bail.”