Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach deserves some type of accolade for the confusion that comes out in his answers at all times. The source of this information is not some pie in the sky. Rather, it is the reply to a parliamentary question given on Tuesday, 10 May 2005. These are the official statistics from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform as given to Deputy Bruton. For the Taoiseach's information, headline assaults recorded in 2000 and 2004, respectively, are as follows: Blanchardstown — 30 in 2000 and 146 in 2004, an increase of 386%; Bray — 15 in 2000 and 70 in 2004, an increase of 366%. These are true and factual statistics. The recorded headline offences rose from 1,821 to 3,554, an increase of 95%. Coolock is up 66% and Tallaght 64%. These are the official statistics from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The detection rates have fallen. In Donnybrook it is down by 17%, in Santry by 14%, Lucan by 13%, Blackrock and Blanchardstown by 11%, Coolock by 10% and so on. These are the official statistics. What we have from the Government is not zero tolerance, but zero performance. Of the 40,000 public servants recruited since 2000, less than 1% of them have been frontline gardaí to deal with detection rates of all the serious assaults and headline offences imposed and put upon the public. It is not zero tolerance but zero performance.

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