David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I will continue where I broke off earlier today when I was expressing my concern that this Bill is a work in progress and we have seen approximately half of the provisions it will eventually enact. We are told that there will be further additions to the Bill during its passage through the House. It is important and desirable that the full provisions of a Bill that will have far-reaching effects on many people and give more power to the Garda Síochána are properly thought out and presented. These should not be brought in later on Committee or worse, Report Stage, as seems to happen more and more frequently.

It is fine for Deputies on all sides to make suggestions which the Minister takes on board and brings forward on Committee Stage. What seems to happen, however, is that a half-formulated Bill is presented and important provisions are brought forward on later Stages. That denies Members the possibility of debating those measures. This procedure is dangerous in a republic, which means "a thing of the people". I urge the Minister to introduce a Bill as a finished product, not a work in progress, unless there is some pressing reason not to do so.

It is crucial to protect citizens against crime as this Bill does, up to a point. That protection has two sides: the prevention of crime and leading people away from crime. The Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who is in the House, wears many hats, among them Minister of State with special responsibility for children at the Department of Health and Children. The Children Act should have been fully implemented before we were presented with this Bill because it would have gone a long way towards preventing the types of activity the Bill proposes to protect.

Last Monday, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, was in my town, Midleton, but I could not be present at that time. Transition year students from the 11 secondary schools in the area came together at a youth forum for the day where they made presentations about issues affecting them and the solutions they wanted brought forward. Their overarching demand was for a place in the town they could call their own. Younger people, teenagers in particular, have nowhere to go and all night to go there. I have teenage children and I would not expect them to be inside at night watching television or using Playstation. That is not desirable if they cannot socialise. The Government must properly implement the Youth Work Act and put some money into the national youth work development plan. That is not currently happening. The Youth Work Act was passed in 2001 and the national youth work development plan was approved in 2003, with little or no money made available to implement it.

What young people wanted was a drop-in centre where they could meet their friends, drink tea, coffee or minerals, chat and play games. They did not get it. Instead, they must hang out on the streets, outside people's houses. Often, people then ring the Garda to have the young people moved on. They have nowhere to go. We should be providing facilities for young people across the country. We provide sports facilities for rugby, GAA and soccer fans and that is laudable, desirable and important, but we also need to provide places where young people can safely socialise with their friends. We are not doing that. We have no proper youth service and the Government does not seem to want to provide one.

Various issues and problems arise. The drugs problem is growing out of all proportion countrywide with new, dangerous and very addictive drugs coming on the scene. This problem is growing in rural areas as well as in the cities, and in most rural areas there is no youth service at all.

Youth workers tell me they are overworked and under-resourced. I understand an application will soon be made to the Department of Education and Science for another youth worker in Midleton. I hope the Minister of State will approve that if it comes across his desk, or talk to his fellow Ministers who have a say in the matter and urge them to approve the appointment.

Since I was elected to the Dáil I have been making speeches on this issue in this House — not to much effect, but I will keep at it until I see action. Preventing young people from becoming involved in crime initially is the best way to go.

Community policing has been mentioned. We must take care that the provisions of this Bill do not damage relations between the community police and the population at large. That is important.

I agree it is important to preserve crime scenes. In the past we have seen major problems arise as a result of not preserving such scenes. Regarding search warrants, it appears from the Bill that officers below the rank of superintendent can issue such warrants in exceptional cases. They would need to be exceptional. In cases where a member of the Garda Síochána issues a search warrant in an emergency, when a district justice is not available, some provision should be made for the warrant to be retrospectively examined by the local district justice, to ensure everything was done above board. This would be a safeguard mechanism. We have all seen cases involving a small number of members of the Garda Síochána exceeding their powers and doing things they should not have done. If we give the Garda more powers we must ensure this cannot happen again. If a garda is obliged to act quickly or otherwise lose evidence, a search warrant would be important, but the Garda must always act properly and not use the warrant to intimidate people or for other reasons. There should be a retrospective oversight procedure by judges or other personnel regarding search warrants issued by Garda members, with the circumstances outlined in some shape or form.

I have no major problem with the issue of saliva and mouth swabs. It is sensible, and the establishment of a DNA database has proved useful in other jurisdictions. Again we must be careful it is not abused. It would work both to identify and eliminate suspects, so it could be used as a safeguard, which is important.

The admission of evidence in court through statements of witnesses who refused to testify or retract original statements relates to the issue of witnesses being intimidated. We have seen such allegations in the recent past and the issue must be dealt with, so that if someone makes a statement and subsequently retracts it, the statement will still be admissible and the courts can make a judgment on it.

There seem to be a great many firearms currently surfacing. We do not know where they come from and it is a major worry. Criminal gangs appear to be involved in executions in Dublin and abroad. Operation Anvil has been successful but we need to boost it and ensure the Garda has the proper resources to deal with the situation. We have seen reports of international criminals moving into Ireland. As the country becomes wealthier, that is to be expected. People trafficking also seems to be happening across Europe, and Ireland is not an exception. I encourage and support the Minister of State in anything he can do to deal with that problem and keep it under control. It is a serious issue.

I note we are to have a provision dealing with criminal organisations. As I have not yet seen the text I cannot comment. However, such organisations are growing. We have seen mafiosi in other countries and if they are beginning to operate here, that is a serious worry. The Government is the only organisation which can bring forward legislation on this matter and ensure the Garda has the resources, possibly including a special unit, to deal with it.

As far as possible, we need to pursue the drug trafficking kingpins and throw the book at them. Very often we deal only with those way down on the pecking order in this criminal activity. Clearly they must be discouraged but we must pursue the big boys making the big money. The Criminal Assets Bureau has done much good work in this area and that must continue.

There have been mixed reports about the use of electronic tagging. If it is to be used, it must be used carefully, and there must be an ongoing evaluation of how it works. Regarding the new offences of supplying drugs to prisoners, the only drug-free prison in the country, the one on Spike Island in Cork, has been closed. I understand the other prisons have different issues with regard to drugs.

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