The Minister for Justice has said he will not change the system where all prisoners have an automatic right to one-quarter remission on their sentences.
Following the perceived lenient sentencing of two serial sex offenders in the last week, Dermot Ahern said he shared the public's concern about such people being on the streets.
However, he said he could not interfere with the independence of the courts.
Mr Ahern said that he was introducing a programme to tag sex offenders upon release and those on temporary release from prison, and that he would put out a tender for a pilot programme.
He also said if he abolished the quarter remission of sentences, he believed that judges would take this into account and apply sentences at the lower level.
'Remission is an incentive for inmates to behave themselves in prison', he said.
