FG calls for tagging of criminals

FINE GAEL want juvenile criminals and released sex offenders to be electronically tagged under radical proposals to tackle crime.

"Fine Gael, in Government, will extend the probation and welfare service. This will involve the introduction of a Home Detention Curfew Scheme and the use of electronic tagging," said the party's justice spokesman, Jim O'Keeffe.

"Fine Gael proposes that electronic tagging be introduced initially for juvenile offenders and also sex offenders on release."

Speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fhéis, Mr O'Keeffe said tagging was a cost effective way to deal with certain crimes. He said at a cost of €4,000 per offender, it represented a small fraction of the cost of jail.

He said tagging would relieve the kind of pressure on prisons which leads to early release of offenders.

He said in Britain, where the system has been in operation since 1999, less than 3% of tagged offenders had re-offended mostly for driving offences.