Gardaí do not have the power to arrest criminals who breach their bail conditions, the Garda Inspectorate has told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice.
The body alleges that gardaí are forced instead to let criminals go free while they apply to the courts for the necessary warrants or summonses.
Deputy Chief Insp Mark Toland said: "There is no power of arrest for a police officer in Ireland to arrest somebody for a breach of bail.
“They have to go back and get a summonses or a warrant. We are recommending enhanced powers . . . a breach of bail needs to be enforced immediately and action needs to be taken immediately.”
Mr Toland said there was also no monitoring of suspects on bail.
Mr Toland said that, as a result, he doubted if gardaí at many stations would even notice when suspects failed to show up to sign in.
“That’s a risk for me, and it’s a worry.”
Figures show that about one quarter of recorded headline crime - just over 20,000 offences - is committed by people on bail.
The Garda Inspectorate, which advises the Government on the need for Garda reform, published a 500-page report last November at the end of its examination of how the force investigates crime.
The process was the most in-depth look at An Garda Síochána since the force's inception and revealed a number of shortcomings.
Mr Toland told a hearing of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice previously that an “astronomical” number of people on bail were signing on at Garda stations, and that many were “very difficult to manage”.
Curfews and spot checks
It was noted at the hearing that police forces in other countries were reducing the numbers signing in at police stations and moving towards curfews. Unannounced spot checks were used to ensure compliance.
“If someone is on a curfew, you are restricting them to certain areas, certain times and certain places,” said a former chief superintendent with the London Met.
Data not gathered
Head of the Garda Inspectorate Bob Olson said there were issues with Garda technology systems which meant basic data on the volume and type of crime the force was responding to was not being gathered.
It was also noted that the Garda’s Pulse computerised database, which is its main data infrastructure, was “1990s technology” and simply a “repository” for information and should be retired.
