Noel Grealish (Galway West, Progressive Democrats)

I thank my party colleague, Deputy Parlon, and my good friend from Tallaght, Deputy O'Connor, for sharing their time with me. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this important debate and commend the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on his extensive contribution on the issue.

The public and media debate and the Bills proposed on defending property have come on foot of various cases, some of them high profile, where intruders and people who have tried to tackle them have been injured or, in some regrettable cases, killed. One such case, known as the Nally case, which happened in the west in 2004, was especially difficult and well publicised. The public discourse which followed it was characterised by strong feeling on both sides.

How far can one go to protect one's life and property? When is the action a person takes to defend his or her life and that of family members a step too far? What is reasonable? These are tough questions which do not have easy answers. I commend my party colleague, Senator Morrissey, on displaying the courage and initiative to try to deal with such questions in a reasonable way.

The word "reasonable" arises continually in the debate about using force to defend oneself. While Senator Morrissey produced a reasonable Bill, Fine Gael produced a truly poor effort at tackling the issue. So bad is it that it does not bode well for any sort of alternative Government should this be the standard of law making we are to be left with. Whatever about defence from intruders, the country certainly needs some way of defending itself from the ineptitude of the would-be legislators opposite.

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