Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I will always remember, a number of years ago when I was a teenager growing up in Greystones, attending a presentation by the then Governor of Mountjoy Prison, Mr. John Lonergan. He said that if he was handed a map of Dublin city, he would be able to identify five small areas from which he was likely to see the bulk of the population of Mountjoy Prison in the following years. It is something that has stuck in my mind and should stick in all of our minds, particularly when we read that the prison population in Ireland has increased by 400% since 1970.

Deputy Clare Daly is right in regard to the socioeconomic linkage with our prison population. Another area which is very much worth exploring is that of special needs education, including the lack of detection of disabilities and behavioural conditions. I have talked to many people who have views and expertise in this area, and they will talk about, say, autism and ADHD being relatively new conditions in terms of recognition in this country. Many people went through life, through society and through school - or maybe did not go through school - with these conditions and they were viewed as perhaps odd, as bad people or as people who misbehaved. Thankfully, some went on to great things but many others ended up within our criminal justice system. This is something worth reflecting on and something the Government needs to keep a constant eye on, even within our current prison population, with regard to what can be done to support and meet the needs of people in our prisons who, if they were four, five or six years of age and starting primary school now, would be diagnosed with a condition and supported. It is a point I would like to put on the record of the House.

I very much welcome the fact the development of this new prison will end practices such as slopping out.

We should take the opportunity to examine how to keep people out of prisons and break that cycle of crime. The Government has done much good work on this, particularly regarding young offenders. We have seen significant media attention and I heard the Minister, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, comment on this last weekend. Issues include ending the practice of putting 16 year olds into St. Patrick's Institution, extending the remit of the Ombudsman for Children to cover St. Patrick's Institution and casting a light on what up to now has been a very secretive and restrictive practice of dealing with children and teenagers who are caught in our criminal justice system and who are often brought into contact with much more serious criminals. Those developments are welcome.

We need to examine community service. In my home town of Greystones we have an active community service programme. People who come before the courts system give something back to society when they get caught up in minor crimes rather than crowding prisons at a cost to the taxpayer. These people actively link in with initiatives such as Tidy Towns and make a positive contribution. They find worth and new direction in their lives.

We need to examine night courts. Many others have spoken about this and my party spoke on it in opposition. We need to examine speedy access to justice whereby people who commit crimes, particularly minor crimes, are brought before the courts if need be and dealt with in a speedy manner. Issues should not be allowed to fester. Justice delayed is justice denied.

We need to examine drug rehabilitation programmes in our communities. I recently visited a youth service in my constituency in Arklow and was surprised to hear the schools have been informed that it is no longer a good idea to teach children about the dangers of drugs in school and that it should be done outside school time. I found it very odd because I remember sitting in secondary school while the scariest looking garda they could find made one aware of the dangers of drugs. That fear of substance misuse is beginning to wane in society and that needs to be examined. There is a captive audience in schools. Our schools are a major resource in this regard and that must be examined.

I welcome the Bill. The Government has taken a progressive approach to these issues. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, have been reforming in this area but we need to take seriously the view of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment when it says the building of additional accommodation is unlikely in and of itself to provide a lasting solution to overcrowding. We must examine how people get caught up in the cycle of crime.

It is timely that we discuss this now because it seems in this country we still have a situation whereby those who commit non-white-collar crime face much more speedy and efficient justice than those involved in white-collar crime, and this Government must grapple with this. When Matthew Elderfield came before the Committee of Public Accounts in recent weeks, he expressed serious concern about our laws on white-collar crime and banking offences. We must take those comments very seriously if we are to learn the lessons of the last few years and see exactly what Mr. Elderfield means. Maybe that could be his parting gift to this country. If there is a legislative gap and a resource issue that must be addressed. The people, this week more than most, are demanding this.

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