Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

To be fair, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, on behalf of the Government, listened to what was said by Deputy Curran and other supporters of the student and a decision has been taken.

On the business before the House, we should remind ourselves that the Garda Síochána Bill was presented to Seanad Éireann in February 2004 and passed by the Seanad, after much debate, on 17 December. When enacted, it will replace, with only one or two exceptions, all the Garda Síochána Acts, which I understand date back to 1924.

The Bill provides for reform in three key areas, the first of which is the structures for the management of the Garda Síochána, in particular by clarifying the role and objectives of the force and defining its relationship with the Government of the day. The provisions in this regard are set out in Part 2 and they reflect the outcome of a review of the Garda Síochána under the Government's strategic management initiative. It addresses the existing mechanism for dealing with complaints against members of the Garda Síochána by providing for the establishment of a new independent body to be known as the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to replace the existing Garda Síochána Complaints Board. I support that. The provisions in this regard are set out in Parts 3 and 4 and are in line with the Government's commitment to establish a new body with the powers of an ombudsman to investigate complaints. The ombudsman commission will have comprehensive powers of civil and criminal investigation to deal with complaints and will have ultimate control and oversight of all complaints processed in accordance with the Bill.

It also deals with the existing accountability arrangements by providing for the establishment of an independent Garda Síochána inspectorate as a means of improving democratic accountability for the actions of the Garda Síochána. The provisions in this regard are set out in Part 5. The Garda Síochána inspectorate will examine policy issues with standards, practice and performance benchmarked to comparable international policing experiences. The key objective will be to ensure and promote efficiency and effectiveness in the Garda Síochána and to provide independent and objective advice to the Minister on the operation and administration of the Garda Síochána.

The joint committee sought submissions on the Bill and we are now working through those. We have held a number of public hearings and will continue that process today. Those of us who participated in the hearings were very impressed by the submissions made to us. The remit is fairly broad and we are getting many different views from national and community-based organisations.

Representatives of the drugs task forces were before the committee yesterday, as were representatives of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. I mention that organisation in particular because its representatives made two very interesting points yesterday. They talked about the need for independent community representation on the boards, which is an interesting point, although there are other points of view.

That particular issue was raised during the Seanad debate. The changes involved provided for representation on the committee at town council level and removal of the county and city development boards model. In addition, the provisions relating to the guidelines governing the establishment of the committees have been extended to include Members of the Oireachtas, not just the Dáil; nomination of members of local authorities; the appointment of a chairperson from the local authority members; nomination by the Commissioner of the Garda; the establishment of sub-committees; the term of office for the committee; the application of qualified privilege; the attendance of bodies and persons before the committee; an enabling type provision to allow for the guidelines to facilitate the attendance of Members of the Oireachtas; and the circumstances in which meetings of the committee may be held other than in public. Those points were made in other debates on the legislation which provided for the abolition of health boards.

I have no difficulty in supporting the notion that community representation be facilitated, which is a good idea. Like myself, most Members came from a community representation background. I have no difficulty with that but we should not be afraid to stand up, as the Senators did, for the rights of those of us who are elected because scant regard is often had for the role of the elected public representative. For example, the partnerships precluded elected public representatives from involvement. I was a member of the Tallaght Partnership in 1991 and I was upset, on becoming a member of the council, having put my name forward and being elected by the public, to be told I did not qualify as a member of the partnership. The partnerships have changed in that regard. Elected public representatives throughout the country of all persuasions are entitled to represent their communities on these bodies.

On community representation, it is worth making the point that if advantage is not taken of the experience of public representatives of all persuasions, the system of selecting community representatives will be more convoluted. The point was made in the committee yesterday that that will be very difficult. The Seanad proposal in that regard is important and we should be supportive of it.

Another point made yesterday in the joint committee concerned anti-social behaviour. The Minister made the point — I raised the matter in the Dáil last night — that he is bringing forward proposals in the context of this Bill. We can all talk about the need to deal with crime in our communities and to support the Garda, which is the body to address the problem of crime in our area, but we must not encourage private armies or people going around meting out justice in various ways.

We must continue to pay attention to serious crime. Colleagues listed various crimes in the debate yesterday and in committee. The level of petty crime in all our communities — the position is no different in Cork, north Dublin and Dún Laoghaire from that in my constituency in Tallaght — and anti-social behaviour has become a modern phenomenon. Many people talk about the need to deal with the matter. Civil liberties groups argued yesterday that we should not try to break a nut with a hammer. If one speaks to community workers, elderly people and young people in the various communities, one will get a clear sense that there is a need to deal with anti-social behaviour in an effective manner. Such people argue that there is a need for a community policing presence on the ground.

I represent the constituency of Dublin South-West, which includes Tallaght, Firhouse, Greenhills, Templeogue and Brittas. It is an area with a huge population — there is an electorate of more than 70,000 people in my local area — but there is just one Garda station there. Parts of the constituency are looked after, in effect, by gardaí from other stations, such as Crumlin, Terenure, Rathfarnham and Rathcoole.

In a debate of this nature, it is reasonable to point out that my community needs more Garda facilities. There is an ongoing campaign to modernise Tallaght Garda station. There may be a need to pull it down and rebuild it on the site or elsewhere. The future Garda needs of Dublin South-West need to be addressed. I hope the Minister, Deputy McDowell, and the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, will continue to pay attention to the matter. I understand that a report from the Garda Commissioner's office in that regard is expected to be sent to the Minister. I hope that progress can be made thereafter. I ask the Minister to ensure that action is taken to meet the Garda station needs of the area I represent.

An organisation in the Tallaght area is involved in a further campaign to ensure that facilities are put in place on foot of the significant development that is taking place in west Tallaght. All the local Deputies have raised issues relating to west Tallaght. I am sure the Acting Chairman, Deputy Glennon, is familiar with such issues. Community groups have argued that there is a need for a second Garda station in the western part of Tallaght. I hope the Minister will have some news in that regard sooner rather than later.

I do not believe that Deputies should not be involved in making a case for their local areas — on the contrary, I am often impressed when they do so. A Deputy called yesterday for more Garda manpower in a certain rural community and I had no problem with that. There is a small rural community in Bohernabreena in my constituency. Tallaght is the third largest population centre in the country, after Dublin and Cork. It has a greater population than Limerick. I do not like to be simple about it, but it is a numbers game — Tallaght needs more gardaí.

Members who are familiar with Tallaght know that for a long time after the population explosion in the mid-1970s, it had the population of a city but the status of a village. All that changed on 23 October 1990, however, when the Square shopping centre was opened. One can get to Tallaght, which is a great place, quite easily from the city centre by taking the Luas, which I was happy to support. One can enjoy all the facilities one would expect in a major town, such as council offices, a shopping centre, a hospital and an institute of technology. It has leisure facilities such as the National Basketball Arena and the Civic Theatre. There are many things to do in Tallaght — one can work, rest and play to one's heart's content there. That is why I spend so much time in Tallaght. I do not suggest that I hate coming to town because that would not be fair, but it is right that shopping and leisure facilities have been provided in an area such as Tallaght.

See this speech in context