Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I want to place on record my appreciation of the work of the Garda Síochána in my constituency of Dún Laoghaire. In 20 years of public life as a Deputy and a councillor, I have worked with a succession of chief superintendents, superintendents, Garda officers and gardaí. I have always valued their work. I understand the difficulties within which they must work and I have always appreciated their co-operation and efforts to provide a police service in the area. I cannot say that I have always been happy with the outcome of every issue raised, that every problem was resolved, or that every complaint was addressed adequately. However, the gardaí have an increasingly difficult role to perform in our changing society. They deserve the support of the public and of public representatives in carrying out that work and in turn, the public is entitled to high quality public service policing from the Garda Síochána.

This Bill gives us an opportunity to debate policing and the related issues of crime, anti-social behaviour and what is happening in society. I welcome the fact the Bill acknowledges some of the proposals for reform of the Garda Síochána that were made by the Labour Party a few years ago. These proposals were published in a document by my colleague, Deputy Howlin, when he was the Labour Party spokesperson on justice. To be fair to the Minister for Justice, Equality, and Law Reform, he did acknowledge those proposals when he introduced the Bill in the House. However, I am disappointed the Bill does not go as far in reform as the Labour Party had proposed. I ask the Minister to take seriously the recommendations and suggestions which were being made to improve this Bill and which were articulated this morning by the leader of the Labour Party.

This Bill is before the House at a time when there is a growing problem, to which we must face up, concerning crime, public order, personal safety and anti-social behaviour, which is occurring right across our society. It has been most acutely manifested in urban areas where there are high levels of disadvantage. However, it is by no means a problem exclusive to areas of disadvantage or to urban areas.

The economic crisis was the big problem that had to be addressed 20 years ago. If someone was asked 20 years ago what had to be addressed by way of public policy, he or she would have said we needed to get people to work, halt emigration and get the economy going so we could resolve many of the social problems. Thankfully, we have largely resolved that economic question and we now have a thriving economy and long may that continue.

See this speech in context