JUSTICE MINISTER JIM O’Callaghan has published the tender for his department’s new electronic tagging contract. 

The tender, published yesterday, seeks the provision of an electronic monitoring service provider by the end of 2025. 

A 12-month pilot project will focus on individuals on temporary release nationally and those admitted to bail in a pilot area.

50 tags for pilot scheme 

It is proposed to utilise up to 50 electronic tags during this first phase.

The pilot approach will allow for processes and procedures to be tested before a wider scale national rollout, according to the department. 

Insights from the pilot will inform any future national rollout and procurement, the department said. 

The announcement comes after Cabinet cleared the way for 128 gardaí to be issued with tasers as part of a new six-month pilot scheme. The areas are Dublin South Central and North Central, Waterford and Kilkenny.

Laws around the use of electronic tags have been approved in Ireland since 2007 and the devices were briefly used by the Irish Prison Service between 2013 and 2018 but were scrapped due to reported value-for-money concerns.

O’Callaghan said earlier this year that it is “embarrassing” that the legislation has not been properly implemented over successive ministers and that a tagging regime would be implemented by the year’s end.

The use of electronic tags, commonly worn on a person’s ankle, has been in operation in other jurisdictions, such as the UK, some EU member states and the US, for almost two decades.

Tender worth €1.58m

The minister secured funding of €2.1m in Budget 2026 for the project to allow for staffing, procurement, and other set up costs.

The tender, which seeks out a service to provide “technology, infrastructure, and operational support required to tag and monitor individuals, tracking compliance with electronic monitoring conditions across Ireland”, is given a value of €1.58m on the tender documents published yesterday.