Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Deputy Ó Snodaigh spoke of NGOs representing the community. As far as I am concerned, I suppose the Government parties are GOs — governmental organisations — for the time being but the Opposition parties are NGOs. The Opposition parties are non-governmental organisations which have a mandate from the people to speak on these matters. They have spoken with considerable clarity on the issue, and I have consulted and will consult with them.

I will talk to anybody who wants to make a submission to me on the issue or who wants to make an input, and I am sure the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights of these Houses will take into account all of those points of view.

On the other question of finding out what the people think, it is noteworthy that the Deputies opposite were selective in quoting for their purposes questions about attitudes to crime in a Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform sponsored opinion survey, which was published in March last. I remind Deputy Ó Snodaigh, in particular, that the overwhelming majority of people who were questioned in that survey, on which reliance was placed for every other purpose in the House, backed the concept of a reserve, while the overwhelming majority of public representatives back it as well. It is not a question of principle on which the public is badly divided. The question now is implementation and consultation. I will consult the Opposition and the Garda representative associations and I will encourage the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights to take the opportunity to seek external views, as it so wishes. However, I do not accept the proposition that the community is represented in these matters by the views of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties or the esteemed Fr. McVerry. The public is clear and I must rely on my judgment as well in regard to people approaching me on the street to outline their views on the issue. It runs eight or nine to one in favour of establishing a reserve.

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