Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I am delighted to have some time to speak on what is probably the most pressing issue, together with the health services, namely, the genuine fear in our communities of a real and justified concern about escalating crime levels, particularly serious crime. A day does not pass without the national media covering yet another ratcheting up of the seriousness of crime that makes Ireland look increasingly like the Los Angeles we saw portrayed in the crime movies or Chicago in the bad days. That is no longer hyperbole.

The measures before us are needed and God knows they are long overdue. I want to comment on the role of the Dáil in dealing with these matters. It is not good enough that the Minister's attitude is that we can present a series of proposals, he can graft on bits and pieces as he goes along and make up a strategy to deal with one of the most urgent social issues with new ideas and a new policy every day such that when a Bill has a Second Reading, it comes to Committee an entirely different vehicle. The Minister cannot continue to make it up as he goes along and pretend this is a satisfactory way to deal with what now amounts to a crisis. Just as the Tánaiste has belatedly recognised a crisis in the health service, it is time the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform recognised a crisis in public confidence in the criminal justice system. What is required is joined-up policy as well as determined leadership but, unfortunately, neither is currently available from the Minister and the Government.

I wish to mention two critical components of the many components that could occupy the time of this House. The first issue is effective policing. That is the cornerstone of all of this. In November 2000, five and a half years ago, I published, on behalf of the Labour Party, comprehensive proposals to establish effective policing here. I published proposals for legislation in a comprehensive policy document. I stated at that time that:

Labour more than any other party knows the impact of crime on certain sections of the public. It demoralises working class communities, terrifies the elderly and destroys the lives of our young people through drugs. In this context, effective policing must be seen not as a luxury but as an essential component of any attempt to sustain and improve the quality of life of all our citizens.

That five and a half year old statement is as real and as important today as it was then. I regret that the comprehensive policy platform that was proposed then was not implemented, although bits of it were albeit reluctantly over time by two Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The building of real partnership between communities and policing has still to be achieved. Without such partnership the criminal will continue, as I fear is the reality today, to have the upper hand. I welcome the considered contribution to this debate by Deputy Curran when he talked about the concerted, united, joined-up reaction after the murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996. That is the type of co-ordination we need.

The second key component of a co-ordinated policy is judicial reform. Consistent decisions of the courts are a prerequisite of public confidence in our criminal justice system. The Minister's predecessor promised reform to ensure adequate judicial training, specialisation and a new mechanism for accountability. Speaker after speaker on both sides of the House have talked about the erosion of confidence because of the lack of consistency in judicial decisions. People will know individual criminals who are as routinely before the courts as the court clerk and it simply is not good enough. The proposals put forward by the Minister's predecessor included a constitutional referendum, but all of those have been dropped. We now have dialogue and discussion and no substantial reform.

I hope we will have many other opportunities to deal with this issue and not only on Committee Stage, in respect of which I join with others in saying that appropriate time should be allocated for it. Furthermore, Members who are not members of the Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights will want to involve themselves in that debate.

The Minister is addicted to his own media image. The trotting out of the patently false mantra that "it was worse in your time" will not wash any more. He must accept responsibility for the situation here and now to solve the crisis and not have the illusion in which he indulges all the time that his rhetoric is a solution.

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