Vol. 522 No. 4
231 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the bail laws will be tightened up to prevent people who have been charged with serious crimes such as rape and murder from intimidating the victims or the families and or witnesses of these serious crimes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19010/00]
The likelihood that an accused will interfere with witnesses or evidence is already recognised by our courts as a ground on which bail may be refused.
I would also point out that section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1999, created a statutory offence, punishable by up to ten years imprisonment, for a person to intimidate another person who is assisting in the investigation by the Garda Síochána of an offence, or is a witness or potential witness or a juror or potential juror in proceedings for an offence, or a member of his or her family, with the intention of causing the investigation or the course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with.
In addition the Deputy will be aware that the Bail Act, 1997, was passed into law by the Oireachtas in May 1997. It gave effect to the terms of the Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution which provided for additional power to be given to the courts to refuse bail. Some provisions of the Act were brought into operation in 1998 and I am pleased to say that following my signature of an order to that effect, I have brought the Act fully into operation with effect from 15 May 2000.
232 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will introduce a system of collection of data and statistics by the Garda to accurately report the number of racially motivated attacks. [19030/00]
As I stated in my response to Questions Nos. 122 to 124 on 22 June 2000, the motive for an offence cannot always be identified with any degree of certainty at the time of recording of the offence by the gardaí. I am, however, informed by the Garda authorities that it is possible in the PULSE computer system to record incidents which are considered, in the light of the available evidence, to be racially motivated.
