Mr. Diarmuid Cronin:

Co-operation between different agencies is a solution to many different problems that we have in the community. The one that comes most to mind is the effort the Garda Síochána made to combat metal theft two years. It involved different agencies, including the Department of Social and Family Affairs, Customs and Excise, and the county councils. One interesting thing that came out of that was that many of the individuals involved in the theft of metal were claiming disability allowance. In recent times, a number of criminals apprehended after major chases were receiving disability allowance and their partners were receiving carer's allowance. There is room for the different agencies of the State to look at an individual's entire life history. It comes back to deterrence again; there is more to deterrence than sentencing.