Dáil debates

Wednesday, 29 March 2006

Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Motion (Resumed).

 

10:00 pm

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I am pleased to speak on this Bill. An MRBI survey on crime and law enforcement in March 2006 commissioned by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform shows that people are much more concerned about crime than they used to be. At the top of the list is drug abuse at 68%, followed by violent crime at57%, juvenile and teenage crime at 50%, disorderly conduct in public at 43% and so on with burglary, car crime and graffiti appearing towards the bottom of the list. People have a fear of lawlessness and of crime. Every community is ravished by drugs. There is not a community that does not have some type of a drug problem, although some people may not want to believe that.

In my area the presence of a local garda has made a big difference to people's behaviour. Rural areas have been relatively crime free in the order of things compared to the large built up areas. If people could be encouraged to remain in rural areas where there is a strong sense of community we would have a better chance in dealing with this issue. People drift to cities. In cities where there are built up housing estates and a lack of services and facilities more people appear to become involved in crime.

This issue goes back to a sense of community and a sense of belonging. In our area where everybody knows the local garda there is considerably more respect for the garda and the work he does. The local garda plays a large part in crime prevention and that element is lacking in urban centres. There is a loss of a sense of community in cities. People are more anonymous and often they do not know their next door neighbour. The opposite is the case in rural areas.

There is a drift of gardaí to urban areas and more gardaí are being moved from rural areas and brought to large centres, perhaps to make up for a lack of manpower. The populations of cities have increased, yet the garda numbers have not increased as they should have. Some 2,000 additional gardaí were promised and they need to be deployed. It is up to the Minister as to whether that will happen. He said it will happen in the near future. We hope it does because there has been an erosion of the Garda presence in rural areas.

Increasingly more gardaí are not living in their own areas. It would be useful if in future there was not a compulsion but an incentive to encourage gardaí to stay in rural areas. Garda stations are as much a part of a rural community as any other institution, be it a school or doctor's surgery. They are all part of the essential infrastructure that knits a rural area and community together. If there is a loss of service, there will be a loss of population. Who would want to stay in an area where there is no protection from marauding criminals or where there is no school or teachers? All the services down the line are a part of the essential infrastructure of a community.

I wish to briefly diverge from the Bill and raise a point concerning a naturalisation application, which is the responsibility of the Minister. I am aware of the case of a doctor who is a plastic surgeon and who has been living here since she was a young girl, was educated here and has contributed greatly to our economy and is currently contributing to our health service. She cannot leave this country which she now regards as her home without ensuring that she has a visa on her return. This poses a great difficulty for her. She applied for naturalisation in September 2005 and it will be September 2007 before her file is considered. Will the Minister respond to this case? This person is contributing greatly to our country and her father is also a consultant in one of our hospitals and an Irish citizen. All her family are citizens with the exception of herself. It seems ridiculous that she has to wait two years for her application to be dealt with. I do not know what has happened in this case and perhaps the Minister might be able to deal with it.

Returning to the Bill, I can understand the rationale for it as regards the basic idea of where evidence is submitted that it could be withdrawn at some other stage. I welcome that aspect of it. I also welcome the controls on fireworks as I have seen too many people with very bad injuries to their hands and with fingers having been blown off. It is essential that the Bill address all these areas.

There are many other items on which I could speak but I am conscious of the time constraint. The introduction of ASBOs is not a good idea and it would compound the problem. They do not address the core issue which is lack of community support for families and individuals. In the event of there being civil proceedings the burden of proof is different and applies the balance of probabilities principle rather than the principle of being beyond reasonable doubt. That would result in penalising people who need a different type of help. I had cause to visit the Rossport Five during their 94 days in detention. I saw many young people in that jail who had no education and they asked Micheál Ó Seighin, who was a teacher, to teach them how to read and write. There are many others like them.

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