Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

For some time, the reality of life is that the scales of justice have swung in favour of the criminal and away from the victim. That is particularly true in the case of burglaries where home owners may face the bizarre situation of being sued for damages if, in the defence of their homes and loved ones, they cause undue injuries to intruders or the intruders trip, slip or otherwise have accidents while being unlawfully on the property of the victims. Therefore, I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill on behalf of my party and I commend Deputy Jim O'Keeffe on bringing it before the House.

The Bill covers such circumstances as an intruder intent on burglary or worse entering the home of a private citizen. As some of my colleagues have pointed out, Article 40.5 of the Constitution sits uncomfortably with the law as it stands. How can the dwelling of every citizen be inviolable if criminals can act with such impunity? No one is saying that a home owner should have an absolute right to do what he or she wants upon finding an intruder. We must always guard against the use of excessive force but the law should not be weighted against a person who engages in reasonable behaviour. I hope the Government supports this Bill, which would act as a warning in light of a rising number of house break-ins.

In my constituency of Clare, there is a worrying trend of rising numbers of burglaries while other headline crimes are going down. There were 316 burglaries recorded in Clare last year, an increase of 15 on 2004. Only 51 of those were detected, which indicates that this type of crime is on the increase. In contrast, overall crime, at 1,530 recorded offences, is at a three-year low in Clare. Detection rates of burglaries remain low because of the nature of the crime. In many instances in recent times, isolated homes in rural areas have been targeted by roving gangs. While this points to the need for preventative measures, such as increased Garda patrols, the nature of the crime is such that, from time to time, people are confronted by burglars in their homes.

The change in the law which would occur if this Bill were enacted would strengthen the legal rights of ordinary people who attempted to protect themselves, their loved ones and their properties against burglars. Even if such intruders are not armed, it is surely, as Deputy Neville said, one of the most frightening experiences in anybody's life to confront somebody in this manner.

The use of proportionate force can be very difficult in such circumstances. The intruders themselves often behave very violently when panicked and in the dead of night it is impossible for a homeowner to know if such people are armed or, indeed, if they have accomplices. As I have already mentioned, this Bill proposes to do away with the current provision whereby an intruder can sue a house occupant for injuries to their person, despite the very clear illegality of the situation. The law as it stands is a charter for burglars, offering them a protection should their enterprise be rudely interrupted.

Section 3 of the Bill moves to redress this imbalance by creating the presumption in favour of the victim that any force he or she uses to protect themselves, their home or their family is reasonable. The Bill also removes the current anomaly that occupiers should retreat from confrontations with intruders, a ridiculous situation when, as often happens, a person wakes up in the middle of the night to find that there is an intruder in his room. It factors in extenuating circumstances for the victim that he may have been acting in defence of other house occupants, that he may not have had the time to consider an alternative form of action or that such options were not available to him. However, as has been noted, it does not provide an excuse for killing an intruder in cold blood or justify a situation where an intruder can be recklessly set upon.

This is a very carefully crafted Bill aimed at providing a just regulatory framework for a very specific, but very important, area. It is a reasonable Bill. It shifts the onus of proof away from the victim in the event of proportionate force being used, but it does not provide a protection against excessive force resulting in death or serious injury. It is part of Fine Gael's vision to create a better Ireland, to improve standards in our community, to put down a marker for burglars and to reinstate a person's home as his castle.

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