Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

I welcome the Bill and the opportunity to speak on it. I refer to police numbers, crime rates, detection rates and anti-social activity in my constituency and the measures which must be applied to deal with the problems we face. The measures in the Bill may go some way towards doing so. The Labour Party spokesman, Deputy Costello, has dealt with the main thrust of the Bill and outlined the party's position on it.

My constituency encompasses the north-east corner of County Kildare, an area in which there has been a population explosion as a result of the massive zoning of land for residential development. Provision has not been made in the area for infrastructure and services at the level required for the greatly increased population. The geographically small area in question is served by three separate Garda divisions, which is a similar scenario to that outlined by Deputy Timmins. Leixlip is covered by the Dublin division, Kilcock by the Louth division and Naas and the rest of the county by the Carlow-Kildare division. The splintering of authority makes it virtually impossible to properly organise the police force to act in the public interest in the area.

There is no Garda station in Leixlip, the second largest town in the constituency, with a population of 18,000. While a station has been promised since 1997, not a brick has been laid on a brick in the past eight years. There is a clear need for a new Garda division to cover the densely populated north Kildare area and provide Garda services there with the organisational focus and manpower to tackle the many problems which are currently untouched. As a result of organisational mayhem and inadequate staffing, serious difficulties have developed. Crime has increased by 53% in the Carlow-Kildare division while the detection rate of 31% is the lowest in the State. On the basis of population figures for the area, a further 100 gardaí are required to bring the number of officers up to the inadequate national average. It is possible to address this problem under section 29 of the Bill. I wonder whether we need new legislation or simply increased numbers of gardaí who are properly organised and deployed to serve the community. The leader of the Labour Party recently commenced a debate on the issue of anti-social behaviour. It has been stressed by a number of speakers that this mainly occurs in large council estates. However, that is not true of my area as there are no large council estates. At least 90% of housing there consists of private estates. The same scourge of anti-social behaviour as described in large urban areas is just as prevalent in my area with the same negative effects on the quality of life of law-abiding citizens.

The form this activity takes is that public areas are colonised by young people aged between 15 and 20 years. They drink, play loud music, use loud, rough language and cause fear and annoyance to local law-abiding people. They effectively exclude others from using publicly provided facilities. We have several instances where pedestrian routes that were provided for the convenience of local residents have had to be closed permanently to put an end to the thuggery.

I attended a meeting last night about a lane known as the Grove Lane which serves a large private housing estate. The residents did not speak about getting the Garda to do anything about the issue. They had given up on the possibility of the force doing anything about it as the problem had been ongoing for 20 years. They wanted to know if the lane could be closed and taken into the adjoining private properties to exclude the thuggish element. That was the only solution they could see, even though it would be a major convenience for people living in the estate to access the main street.

In the private estate of Castletown in Celbridge where the residents' association sought action against the elements I have described, the chairman of the association was targeted. His car was repeatedly attacked, as was his house. The Garda was unable to assist. The man and his family had to sell up and move out. The young thugs won and now they know they are untouchable. They know there is no consequence of their actions despite that they were in breach of several different laws. The law is not being enforced. The Garda was not in a position to assist.

What do the parents of these young thugs think of their children's actions or do they think they have any responsibility for their control? I am certain they do not think so. I am convinced they do not give a damn. It is time for the law to ensure that parents should shoulder their responsibility, know what their offspring are up to, be required to take corrective action and carry the consequences if they do not do so.

It is important to state clearly that only a small minority of young people are involved in anti-social behaviour. Since they know there is no sanction and that they can get away with it, they make life miserable for a significant number of people and sometimes whole communities.

I am aware of the causes or reasons behind such behaviour which have been written about in many reports. Not only am I prepared to be tough on the causes of crime, I am also prepared to be tough on the criminals or law breakers. Old women living alone, community activists or a person who is singled out cannot wait for long-term solutions to changed behaviour patterns. They need the culprits dealt with today and tonight.

The Garda, as it is currently organised and deployed, is incapable of dealing with this scourge. We need many community gardaí patrolling housing estates and public areas. Token numbers for short periods is not a solution. Their presence and the intelligence they collect will be a major deterrent and will not require large numbers of young people to be locked up. Young vandals and thugs need to know there will be real sanctions if they transgress and that they will not get away with it. If it takes community orders, curfews or cleaning up the mess they made, so be it.

I wish to raise one other issue of regular public disorder which does not concern my area but is a national malaise. I refer to the pitched battles every weekend outside discos or nightclubs after they have closed. I am amazed that more people have not been killed. This occurs in every town where there is a nightclub. Gardaí do not appear to be present until the battles are over and then they pick up what is left behind. One man died last weekend from such an incident. There have been many serious injuries. I have seen such battles occur in towns in the west. It happens every weekend in every town in which there is a nightclub and nothing is done about it. There is a silence around this matter as if it did not occur. There are pitched battles on the streets of Ballinrobe, Ballyhaunis, Claremorris and so on. Mullingar was in the headlines last weekend. No action is taken. The various anti-drinking measures have had no effect on this dangerous and regular activity. Some people have been killed and many have been seriously injured in these weekly confrontations. Why are these nightclubs and discos, whose activities give rise to such behaviour, allowed to continue?

The Bill to reorganise the Garda is welcome. I repeat the oft-stated maxim that a police force cannot be effective if it does not have the confidence and support of the public. A great deal of work remains to be done in that regard. It would greatly help if gardaí always remembered they are the servants of the people.

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