More than a year after the bail referendum was passed, the Government has said that legislation implementing it cannot be brought into force yet because of the lack of prison space.
The Bail Act has not come into operation "because existing prison accommodation would not be able to deal with the additional demand", according to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue.
The bail amendment, passed in November 1996, allowed a court to refuse bail to anyone charged with a serious offence where it was considered necessary to prevent the person from committing a serious offence.
The Bail Act to implement this amendment was passed into law last May, but cannot come into force until an order is made by Mr O'Donoghue.
A Department of Justice spokesman said the Bail Act "will probably be brought into force in the latter part of this year", after cells for 600 prisoners are completed.
"It's contingent on the prison building programme continuing apace," he said.
Department of Justice officials said last February that the overcrowding in prisons meant that up to 50 prisoners a day were released early to make way for new arrivals.
Mr O'Donoghue outlined the situation regarding the Bail Act in reply to a written question by Independent TD Mr Tony Gregory.
Mr O'Donoghue stated that he wanted to "avoid a situation where convicted persons would have to be released to make space for additional remand prisoners".
He said he would bring the Act into force as soon as possible and was "keeping the matter under review in the context of the major prison building programme which I have under way at present which includes a new remand prison at Wheatfield."
Mr Gregory said the situation demonstrated "just how chaotic" the whole prison system is.
"Despite all the hype about the bail referendum and the need to implement such radical changes, more than a year on they are still not in a position to implement the changes," he said.
Last August, Mr O'Donoghue announced a scheme to lock up more criminals at less cost, which included a new prison with cells for 400 at Portlaoise, financed by the private sector.
Work is under way on new prisons or cell units at Castlerea in Co Roscommon and Wheatfield and Mountjoy in Dublin, which will create cells for 600 prisoners towards the end of this year.
When the Portlaoise jail is completed in mid-to-late 1999, the prison service should have cells for around 3,400 prisoners.