The Fine Gael Ardfheis called for the introduction of electronic tagging of repeat offenders as an alternative to prison.
Delegates passed a motion from the Baileborough branch in Cavan-Monaghan advocating the measure, particularly in the case of juvenile offenders and those convicted of sex offences.
Mr Seán McKiernan, Baileborough, said that electronic monitoring had been widely used in the United States and Sweden. "People, particularly many of the elderly, live in fear. There is drunkenness and disorderly behaviour on our streets. But let us not get carried away. We are talking about striking the right balance. One must set the debate against our revolving door system in terms of people not serving their full sentence."
Ms Karen Warren (Dublin South West) said the criminal justice system was falling apart at the seams. "Locking up minor offenders at a cost of €60,000 annually in Mountjoy is a waste of resources and bad value for money."
She added that crime victims were confronting her every day and asking her to take action against juvenile offenders who were out of control. Declaring that she knew the reality on the ground, she added: "Recently, in my area, a woman known as a living saint, was gunned down in her own home. This is unacceptable."
Supporting the proposal, the party's justice spokesman, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, pledged that Fine Gael in government would extend the probation and welfare service. "This will involve the introduction of a home detention curfew scheme and the use of electronic tagging. We propose that electronic tagging be introduced initially for juvenile offenders and sex offenders on release. There would be significant advantages to such a measure."
Mr O'Keeffe said the cost would be about €4,000 an offender, which represented a small fraction of the cost of sending a person to jail.
"Tagging would relieve the kind of pressure on prisons which gives rise to the early release of offenders. It would ultimately ensure that prison places were available for serious offenders and that they served their full sentence."
