Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform could do the State a service by tackling this issue and delivering improvements to make the lives of people worth living again. The provision of extra, fully resourced gardaí is the solution, not the introduction of more legislation. Legislation is not a high priority for criminals and they do not generally consult the Statute Book to ensure their activities comply with the law. We have enough legislation but we do not have enough properly resourced gardaí.

Section 33 places a duty on local authorities. This is a waste of time because local authorities do not have the capacity or the capability to carry out the functions delegated to them. This is another example of the insertion of a feel-good provision in legislation. It makes everybody feel good but the provision is toothless and therefore useless. It gives the impression that the principle of subsidiarity is being employed, that the people are having their say and that the closest arm of Government to the people has an input into the delivery of law and order. This is a shambolic exercise. The provision has been inserted so that, in future, when the Minister for Justice is criticised for not addressing anti-social behaviour, he or she can point to this legislation and state local authorities have a say and it is out of his or her hands.

It is of no benefit to harassed citizens to see the current Minister pointing to legislation, quoting from the Statute Book and referring to previous Acts as his defence. Citizens want him to take effective action to rid the country of thugs. I have placed much emphasis on the need for extra community gardaí. However, the need is obvious to all except the Government. There is also an urgent need to address more serious crime. In the lead up to the murder of Veronica Guerin, criminals were in control in Dublin. They appeared like celebrities on national television, dressed up in silly clothes and giving the two fingers to the Garda and other law enforcers. Following the terrible murder of Veronica Guerin, swift, decisive and effective action was taken and resources were provided. The law was strengthened and the balance of effectiveness returned to the Garda. Unfortunately, however, we are quickly returning to the lawlessness which existed prior to the murder of Veronica Guerin.

Criminals in Dublin have the confidence to march into a bar with a machine gun, waltz through it looking for somebody who fortunately is not present, swagger out of the pub, threaten two uniformed members of the Garda and then ride off into the sunset. That is a regrettable commentary on law and order in our capital city but it is the reality under the Government. We are reverting to the days when the criminals were in control.

We do not want more legislation to deal with this issue. The criminals do not "do" legislation. We want more gardaí and better resources.

From time to time one could be forgiven for feeling that we do not need any gardaí at all to investigate crime and find out who the offenders are. Going by the statement of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, to the effect that he knows who is committing the crime, who are members of illegal organisations and so on, it seems that he makes his judgment simply and solely on the basis that he knows what he knows. Now we want a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who will talk, spill the beans, tell us who the law-breakers are and how he knows, thereby nailing them all once and for all.

Many people have been put on trial and convicted on the word of a senior garda on the basis of information available to him. However, it now appears that it is the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who has all that pertinent information and not the gardaí. Perhaps it is time to enact one final Bill that would enable the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to take the stand to give evidence in court so that he might finger all the law-breakers in the land in exactly the way in which senior gardaí have done heretofore. One needs only the word of a high-ranking Minister, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and the offender goes down. Imagine the savings to the Exchequer. There would be no protracted Garda investigations, no wasted expenditure taping Garda interviews, no forensic investigations — just a one-man crimebuster, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Section 39 of the Act, which imposes an obligation on the Garda Commissioner to supply criminal statistics to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, is a total waste of time, for several reasons. First, many members of the public have formed the view that it is fruitless to report certain incidents, and those crimes that are not reported are not put on the record that the Garda might supply to the Minister. Even that will be used to put the best complexion on the figures from the point of view of the Minister of the day. We are once again talking of statistics and damned lies. The Minister recently welcomed an 11% decrease in serious crime. It was not based on all the years since the Government came to office, since that would not have suited its purposes. Such a comparison would have produced the wrong answer from its point of view. Since 2000, serious crime has risen from approximately 73,000 crimes to approximately 96,000.

We need no more legislation but more gardaí on the street and a Government that honours its commitments to appoint such gardaí and equip them properly.

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