Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Like many of my colleagues, I am disappointed at the manner in which this legislation has been handled from the beginning, both in terms of the delay in bringing it before the House, from its initial introduction in July 2004, through to the publication of so many amendments, on issues which should be dealt with through separate legislation. However, I welcome that the issues are finally being dealt with, albeit nine years after the Government parties came to office.

In dealing with a number of aspects of this Bill, I wish to bring other related issues to the Minister's attention. Legislation is clearly important but its implementation after enactment is equally crucial if not more so. While I will speak about the number of gardaí, particularly in my constituency, I must say how amazed I am that student gardaí entering their early days in Templemore training college are counted as gardaí for the purposes of the Minister's statistics. What will we do next? Will the Tánaiste count first-year medical students as doctors? This is effectively what we are doing when including trainee gardaí as full members of the force. They are not qualified, have not been trained and should not be counted until they have finished their training and have reached the required standard of excellence to be considered fully-fledged gardaí. A certain number of students drop out, fail their exams or are dismissed or suspended for disciplinary reasons. However, they are considered from the initial stages to be gardaí when we seek statistics on the number of gardaí.

I am not sure how familiar the Minister is with the position in my constituency. It is a two-county Garda division, made up of Laois and Offaly and serving small portions of neighbouring counties. While I have not availed of the offer of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for a briefing on the figures, I will use the figures I got from the Department at face value. On 5 October 2004 the division had 277 gardaí. When compared with other two-county divisions, we are fairly near the bottom of the league in terms of garda numbers. However, when one considers that none of those other divisions contain two national prisons, which are staffed out of those numbers, the Laois-Offaly division is poorly resourced in terms of garda numbers. Both Portlaoise Prison and the Midlands Prison are located in my constituency and to the best of my knowledge — if I am wrong, I am sure the Minister will be only too delighted to correct me — they are staffed out of the Laois-Offaly division. I have tabled parliamentary questions asking how many are deployed to the prison to be informed that I cannot have the figure for reasons for national security and for operational reasons. However, I believe the people of the area are entitled to this information.

I will give some specific examples of the difficulties being experienced in rural areas in Laois-Offaly. I stress that while the vast majority of gardaí I come across are extremely hard working, serious about their job and are dedicated to it, they are stretched beyond reason. In recent months a number of serious armed robberies in various homes and business have taken place. In one, the Garda was informed by a neighbour that she had seen five armed people entering a home attached to a small business. Two gardaí travelled 12 miles to arrive on the scene. Needless to say the raiders managed to escape by force of numbers and equipment. The gardaí gave chase but eventually lost them because their walkie-talkie system could not operate in the Slieve Bloom mountains and they could not maintain contact with gardaí on the other side of the mountain who had come from the Portlaoise area. The perpetrators knew if they went through the Slieve Bloom mountains the Garda could do little about it.

We cannot blame the individual members of the force for that sequence of events. They did the best job anyone could do with the manpower, resources and equipment available, but the raiders escaped and a quiet couple, in their 60s are left battered and bruised, physically and emotionally, from the experience. When I met the family, they named several towns in the vicinity and asked why gardaí from these towns could not be deployed to deal with the incident. I had to explain to them that for years these towns only had a Garda presence for a few hours a day which is ludicrous.

This scenario can be found to varying degrees across both counties. Parts of south Laois have had a spate of criminal activity in recent months and while the general public correctly want a greater Garda presence, it is just not possible with the numbers. When we meet the superintendents and the chief superintendent, this is what we are told. Only one patrol car is on duty in a division at particular times in the night. Gardaí need to use their personal mobile phones. No flak jackets or anti-stab jackets, which are common for police officers throughout the UK, are available even though the criminals they face — as we saw last weekend — are perfectly equipped to protect themselves. A person needed to call to a Garda station in the fastest growing town in Offaly seven times to get a passport form signed, because the station is not open for 24 hours despite being in an area with a large population. It is not possible to over emphasise the genuine fears of people living in these areas.

Criminals are clearly aware of the lack of visibility of gardaí in urban and rural areas in the midlands and are in a position to capitalise. The growing figures for robberies and burglaries prove the point. Much Garda time is taken up in particular areas depending on the length of District Court sittings. We need to ensure that Garda time is used more effectively. This is a genuine issue and one that needs to be grappled with. Towns like Tullamore and Portlaoise have 48 fixed District Court sittings a year each requiring the attendance of up to 20 or 30 gardaí. In 2004 there were also more than 20 special sittings in each town again necessitating gardaí being present. We must look at ways of dealing with this.

I ask the Minister to consider that the gardaí should have fixed times for having their cases heard rather than all of them needing to be present at 10.30 a.m. for the commencement of court. Civil matters such as debt collection, litigation, and licensing applications should be heard at a fixed date and time. When a defendant makes a plea, consideration should be given, with the defendant's consent, to allowing the superintendent or State solicitor outline the facts and the defendant should be required to notify the prosecution of the plea in advance of the sitting. Special times and days should be set aside for family law cases in order that general District Court business and Garda time is not taken up in this way. This would make far more sense. On a typical Friday or Saturday night in any city or town, an arrest for a public order offence — even a relatively minor offence — leads to Garda time being taken up at the time of arrest and again at the time of detention. There may be a need to call a doctor or a solicitor, which can take up more time. Additional time can be spent questioning, investigating, getting statements, preparing the book of evidence, taking the case to court and waiting for it to be heard. It is possible that even more time will be lost if the person is transferred to prison. If there had been more gardaí on the streets, it is possible that the public order offence would not have been committed and a great deal of time and resources would have been saved.

I accept the principle behind the proposal to establish a Garda reserve, which is a topical issue at the moment. Before such a step is taken, however, we should ensure that all matters within the existing force are right. We should resource the Garda by giving it the numbers and equipment it needs before we examine other issues.

On anti-social behaviour orders, I implore the Minister to ensure that such orders are used as a very last resort. I have concerns about them. I ask him to form a committee with his colleagues, the Ministers for Health and Children, Education and Science, Arts, Sport and Tourism and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to review the extent of the facilities available to young people. Older people than me often complain when they hear young people saying they have nothing to do, but that is genuinely the case in certain parts of the country. We have to ensure that facilities are made available for young people.

See this speech in context