There is genuine fear and a lot of anger across the country in relation to crime, particularly the burglaries in both urban and rural communities the length and breadth of the country. One of the areas that has been raised is the introduction of new laws pertaining to bail. The Minister has given a commitment in that regard but there is a sense of urgency attached to it. The majority of the gangs which are breaking in to homes are out on bail, as was clearly illustrated in the horrendous and very violent armed burglary of the Corcoran household in Tipperary. There has been neglect of the area for the past number of years and the Garda is under resourced, but the bail law reform commitments would be one important step that could be taken. Can the Taoiseach indicate whether the Bill will be brought forward and will we have it in the House before Christmas?

This is a matter of considerable concern and one of priority for the Minister for Justice and Equality. Obviously, Government has made a decision to reopen Templemore. Next year, 600 gardaí are to be recruited and there will be €27 million for the vehicles and facilities that gardaí need to do their job. We witnessed the terrible murder of Garda Tony Golden only last weekend.

The case Deputy Martin mentions was horrific and leaves a traumatic effect on families for many years. There are a number of issues here that the Minister will address this week. The Deputy will have seen reports of further facilities for gardaí to do their job, which can be very dangerous in some of these particular circumstances. The Minister for Justice and Equality will deal with elements of this this week.

There are two bail Bills. One will be before the House on Thursday next at Second Stage. That is dealing with burglary of houses and consecutive sentencing. Then there is a second bail Bill, the heads of which were approved in July last, which is a more general Bill. Obviously, that is proceeding.

In respect of re-offending on bail, there have been a number of offences here. The number of sexual offences recorded as being committed by persons on bail has fallen by one third, from 32 to 22 in 2014.

The number of robbery offences has decreased from 556 to 476, burglary offences from 1,957 to 1,865 and weapons offences from 571 to 457.

They are still awful figures. They are huge figures.

They were huge previously.

I would not take any comfort from them.

Despite these decreases, the Government is of the view that the number of serious crimes in these categories which are being committed by repeat offenders out on bail is still too high and represents an unacceptable risk to the public. The Government believes serious and serial offenders should be imprisoned. This approach underlines the Minister for Justice and Equality's proposals to introduce tougher sentences for repeat burglars and to strengthen the bail laws to protect the public from offences by repeat offenders out on bail.

In July, the Minister published a new Bill to strengthen the law to protect the public against crimes committed by offenders out on bail. This is the first comprehensive review of the law since 1997. The new reforms will include placing clear, new requirements on the courts considering bail applications; providing that courts must give reasons for bail decisions; providing gardaí with new powers of arrest without warrant for breach of bail conditions; giving the District Court power to refuse bail where there is an appeal against a sentence of imprisonment imposed by the court; providing for restrictions on post-conviction bail; giving the courts the power to prohibit an accused person from driving where the person has been charged with a serious road traffic offence and the court considers it necessary to prevent the commission of a serious road traffic offence; and updating and extending the legislative basis for the electronic monitoring and tagging of persons out on bail under particular conditions.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is examining the question of codifying and updating all the legislation on road traffic offences where drink is concerned. Myriad pieces of legislation make it difficult to implement it effectively, and he is working on it.

Will it be before Christmas?

The one on Second Stage will go through. The general one is moving ahead and while I do not know whether it will be passed by Christmas, much work is ongoing.