Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

In his opening speech the Minister referred to his strategy to "retain the confidence of the public". Does the Minister seriously believe the criminal justice system in this State enjoys the confidence of the public? He might, for example, ask the family of Rachel Kiely, where the person who raped and murdered her will be back on the streets in a year's time, no doubt to put others under threat, to judge by his activities while on bail. The Minister could ask the young women who were mutilated by Dr. Neary who, when the horrors of what he had done to them were unfolding to a shocked public, went to sun himself in Spain.

In the case of the appalling treatment of women during Garda interrogation in Donegal, some of the gardaí against whom very serious findings were made in the first tribunal report still serve in Donegal today. He might ask the families of the wives who have been murdered by their husbands, who are now household names but against whom the law is ineffective.

The latest we hear is that the murderer of Veronica Guerin may soon be a celebrity guest on "The Late Late Show". I only have three minutes but the litany is endless. I do not believe the public has confidence in the rule of law or the courts, and the Minister should start from that basis.

The Minister tells us that headline crime is very low by comparison with most western democracies. Is it really? For example, one headline crime causing great public concern at present involves the increasing lawlessness of drug gangs. Is the Minister telling us that the drug problem in this country is low by EU standards? We all know it is quite the opposite. Ireland has one of the highest rates of drug usage in the European Union. It follows logically that drug crime must also be far above the EU average. It may be the case that detected drug crime is low by EU standards and detected drug gang murders are pathetically low.

One other example which concerns many people is the level of detected burglaries. In one Garda district in my constituency there were 629 reported burglaries in 2005, of which a mere 49 were detected. That is some record. Is the Minister telling us that inspires public confidence?

I will refer briefly to the mandatory minimum sentence of ten years. The Minister said he intends to make a change to take account of drug trafficking convictions. That is fine in itself but will it reverse the trend among the Judiciary to ignore the main legislative deterrent to the drug scourge in the past 20 years?

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