MS NORA OWEN is expected to present proposals to Cabinet shortly which include a constitutional referendum to allow changes in the bail laws.
There are signs that support for a such a move is gaining momentum among the Government Minister for Justice is proposing to combine legislative and constitutional change. Some "Labour and Democratic Left TDs indicated last night the Minister should get a sympathetic response from Cabinet colleagues.
The Minister was strongly criticised last year by Labour for fail to consult them before she announced that she hoped to hold a referendum on bail.
Senior sources in the party last night suggested, however, that they still had serious reservations, since "it is a cornerstone of the criminal justice system that one is until proven guilty".
Under the existing law, as established by the Supreme Court the O'Callaghan case in 1966, a can refuse bail if he or she the defendant is likely to abscond or interfere with witnesses.
Ms Owen followed up a report on bail issued by the Law Reform Commission last October. "You must ensure that the legislation is sound when you put it in place" because changes involved "removing freedom from people before they are convicted," she insisted yesterday.
A spokesman for Democratic Left said last night the party was "concerned about the offences committed by people on bail", but Ministers would have to await the proposals. "Our Ministers will consider the matter and act responsibly."
Two Dublin area Labour TDs, Mr Tommy Broughan and Mr Eamon Walsh, said yesterday they support a referendum to change the bail laws.
"It is quite obvious that there are serious deficiencies in the present arrangements and we have no choice but to support these changes.
"I am strongly advocating this because in Dublin South West we have had guns on the street and it is time to get rid of them," Mr Walsh said. He cautioned that "safeguards" must be established so that innocent people were not incarcerated".
Mr Broughan said gardai were irritated that, "after doing a good job" apprehending offenders, they saw them on bail "walking around as bold as brass, pushing drugs."
But their Dublin Central colleague, Mr Joe Costello, warned that a constitutional referendum on the right to bail had major implications for the criminal justice system.
The TD called for mandatory consecutive sentences for those who commit crime while on bail. "Dishonouring bail should be a crime in itself."
The Fianna Fail justice spokesman, Mr John O'Donoghue, strongly urged changes in the bail laws. Fine Gael were being "constrained in this regard by Labour and Democratic Left," he said.
His party had last year introduced a Private Members' Bill which would allow a judge who believed that a defendant would be likely to commit a crime while on bail to refuse bail. The Government had opposed the move.
. Two farming organisations welcomed Ms Owen's plans. A third said they did not go far enough.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association said new prison spaces "should lead to an easing of the terror felt by many elderly living alone in remote areas of rural Ireland."
The Irish Farmers' Association said the prison spaces and reorganisation of the Garda were "a step in the right direction."
Macra na Feirme stressed the need "to increase the number of the gardai on the beat" and "to reopen Garda stations which have been closed in the recent past.