New €1.58m electronic tagging scheme to track prisoners on release and offenders on bail

Pilot project will involve the electronic tagging of prisoners on temporary release, sex offenders, or persons before the courts on bail.

The Department of Justice is to spend an estimated €1.58m on a new pilot project involving the electronic tagging of prisoners on temporary release, sex offenders, or persons before the courts on bail.

In a new tender, the department says the contract for the pilot will provide for 30 devices, with the option to draw down a further 20 devices in batches of 10.

It says the contract will be for one year, with the option to renew for a further year.

"Depending on the success of the pilot, a separate procurement process to establish electronic monitoring on a wider- and longer-term basis in accordance with relevant legal provisions may be carried out," it says.

The tender comes against the background of continuing overcrowding in the prison system, and in a written Dáil reply on the pilot programme in recent days to Fianna Fáil's Malcolm Byrne, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said: “Budget 2026 allocated funding of €2.1m for the project to allow for staffing, procurement, and other set-up costs”.

The tender says that, currently, electronic monitoring is not in operation within the criminal justice sector, as a previous programme of electronic monitoring, run by the Irish Prison Service for prisoners on temporary release, ceased in 2019.

It says several key drivers support the initiative, including the potential for electronic monitoring to contribute to a reduction in the number of people in prisons; recommendations from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture; advocating for alternatives to detention and the potential for electronic monitoring to reduce recidivism.

The tender says the purpose of electronic monitoring, when imposed under legislative provisions, is to monitor compliance with residence conditions, movement restrictions, curfews, exclusion zones, and inclusion zones, as ordered by the courts, or as a condition of temporary release from prison.

Existing legislation includes use of electronic monitoring for both persons accused of an offence and those convicted of an offence.

The deadline for the submission of tenders is January 16.