Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I move:

That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, it be an Instruction to the Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights that it has power to make provision in the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 in relation to:

—the Firearms Acts 1925 to 2000 including increasing fines and penalties generally for firearm offences, creating mandatory minimum sentences for certain offences, introduction of a gun amnesty and amendments governing the grant of firearm certificates;

—the Explosives Act 1875 to provide for new offences relating to fireworks and increased penalties;

—offences relating to organised crime including an offence of participating or contributing to any activity of a criminal organisation for the purpose of enhancing the ability of such an organisation to commit or facilitate a serious offence whether inside or outside the State, an offence of committing an offence for the benefit of a criminal organisation and an offence of conspiracy to commit a serious offence;

—the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 in order to strengthen the existing sentencing provisions for drug trafficking offences, create a new offence of importation of drugs with a value of €13,000 or more, and a new offence of supplying drugs to prisons;

—a requirement in the interests of the common good, obliging persons convicted on indictment of certain drug trafficking offences to notify certain information to the Garda Síochána;

—sentencing including creating a statutory basis for suspended or partially suspended sentences, imposition of a fine and deferral of sentence, restriction on movement orders and electronic monitoring of offenders;

—civil proceedings in relation to anti-social behaviour by adults;

—the Children Act 2001 to provide for civil proceedings in relation to anti-social behaviour by children aged 12 or over and other juvenile justice matters, including amendments to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for the provision and operation of children detention schools from the Department of Education and Science to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

—the establishment of a body to be known as the Criminal Law Codification Advisory Committee to advise on the drawing up of a criminal code and monitor its implementation;

—a new offence of possession of an article intended for use in connection with certain offences;

—section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 in order to expand the existing offence of assaulting or threatening to assault a peace officer to include medical personnel;

—the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention against Torture) Act 2000 to clarify the meaning of 'torture' as defined in that Act;

—the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961 to clarify that a district court judge may exercise his or her powers in relation to his or her district anywhere in the State.

This motion provides that the select committee be instructed to consider the amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 that I will present. I consider the amendments to be highly important and I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on the motion.

Before I outline the main areas involved, I will stress my overall objective in bringing the amendments to the Bill. I am concerned that the criminal law should not only be seen to be up to date and relevant to the needs of modern society, but must also be effective in responding to those needs. We must ensure that the criminal law is able to respond in a way that will retain the confidence of the public and that it provides a strong deterrent to those who seek to undermine the stability and good order of our society. The amendments I propose, together with other reforms I have introduced, especially in the Garda Síochána Act 2005, will go a long way towards achieving those objectives.

This Bill is the culmination of detailed and considered assessment of what enhanced powers the Garda Síochána need to combat crime, in all its manifestations, in the early 21st century. Although the level of headline crime in 2005 is lower than in 2002 by 4.4% and, by comparison with most western democracies, Ireland's crime rate is very low, crime nevertheless remains a significant problem. In 1995, with a population of almost 3.6 million people, there were 29 serious crimes per 1,000 of the population, while in 2005, with a population of more than 4.1 million, this rate had fallen to 24.6 crimes per 1,000 of the population. From that point of view, we should always keep everything in perspective. The crime rate per head of the population has declined quite significantly in the past ten years.

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