Shane McEntee (Meath, Fine Gael)

I would like to speak on crime regarding my experiences during my successful by-election campaign. It amazed me, living in a nice, quiet area at one end of the county, when I moved on to built-up areas such as Dunshaughlin, Ratoath, Ashbourne and even Navan to learn that the crime rates in those areas were far higher than in my own. We can always blame young people for crime but I have been involved in sports activity for 23 years and everywhere one is involved in sport, crime is not even an issue. People have something to do, whether they are senior or junior footballers, lady footballers or handballers. Anywhere one has sports facilities, there is no crime. The one thing that really annoyed me during my campaign was that in all those built-up areas no one saw fit, if one had 20 houses or 100 children, to provide enough sports facilities for young people.

It is out of boredom and perhaps a lack of policing that young people get involved in crime. I always find that, no matter at what age, a young fellow will go through a rough patch, like we did ourselves somewhere between the ages of 18 and 21 years. One can be led astray but it is very easy to get back if something is put in front of one instead of gangs or drugs. There will always be 5% or 10% of people who do not want to comply with any rules or regulations. They are the people who must ultimately be targeted — the likes of the drug dealers and those who simply do not want to be part of society.

To my amazement, drug dealers and others involved in crime are getting away too lightly. Their sentences are too short. The excuse that we do not have the prisons to hold them is not good enough. It is very easy to rob a bank or put a gun to someone's head. The next thing one sees is that they receive a four year suspended sentence. They must be put away. A gun is a good thing in its own right and I blame the person who handles it for the crime. It is up to the Government and us in opposition, to promote more sports and other facilities for young people that will take them away from crime. I am an admirer of the Minister and the manner in which he sometimes stands alone in saying such things but it must be implemented. One must have jails to put people away, not for three or four months in order that they take a winter break; they must be put away for years.

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