Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I was not going to be nice, but I have decided to be calm because we are so close to Christmas. I am sure I will have plenty of further opportunities to cross swords with my Green Party colleagues over the next 200 days. I look forward to doing that. In fairness, the work of Deputy Cuffe, in particular, shines through in this Bill, about which other Deputies have spoken. The Green Party has struck a nerve on this occasion. We all understand the point being made by the Green Party. No Deputy will disagree with the sentiments being expressed in this legislation. Problems of this nature are encountered in every community.

As someone who was reared in Dublin in a bygone era, as I mentioned earlier, I know this problem did not start in recent years. I remember how troublesome neighbours who made noise were dealt with when I was a child in the inner city, in the Stephen Street and George's Street area, as well as in Crumlin, where I was reared. I cannot remember things from yesterday, but I can remember the problems caused by all kinds of noise on the street many years ago. When television was introduced in the area, my parents complained about the noise for the first couple of weeks, until we got a television in our house. Such problems have been experienced in all our communities.

Somebody said earlier that I did not mention Tallaght much during my speech on the Garda Síochána. I am always sensitive about the danger of talking too much about Tallaght during debates on negative matters. I represent the third largest population centre in the country. The Acting Chairman is familiar with some of the urban places in my constituency, such as Tallaght, Firhouse, Templeogue and Greenhills, as well as rural communities like Brittas and Bohernabreena. I attend eight advice clinics every week and not a week goes by when this issue does not arise. I checked that with my office today and I am not as famous for my meetings as some of my colleagues — I am looking at Deputy Gilmore, in particular — but I am as available as possible.

My full-time office receives many calls every week about this matter. I know from my work and from checking with my secretary that problems caused by people who act as bad neighbours arise quite often. That is the crux of the matter, in simple terms — people refuse to toe the line and to act as good neighbours. As Deputy Wilkinson said, noise can be caused by loud music, motorbikes and barking dogs. I am quite fond of dogs in my own way — I always had a dog when I was young — but I emphasise that people should be aware of the sensitivity of their neighbours to dogs.

This Bill lists all the sources of noise with which people have difficulties. Particular reference has been made to intruder alarms. I have received many calls recently from people in new communities in the Tallaght region in this regard. When people move into such areas, they are suddenly confronted with noise pollution. I do not want to make a political point, but it appears that the economy is doing well, which means that many people are working and therefore are not at home during the day. Those of us who try to meet people when we spend days on walkabouts — I know we do not talk about canvassing, but we can talk about walkabouts — are aware that it is difficult to do so when people are out working. It is really infuriating for people when one of their neighbours goes to work at 8 a.m. and leaves the alarm bellowing for the day. Such behaviour can cause many problems.

While I am talking about the need for people to act as good neighbours, I would like to refer to an initiative in Tallaght with which I was involved several years ago. I was the founding chairman of the Tallaght Mediation Bureau, which was established to mediate between neighbours, to encourage people not to feel obliged to have recourse to the legal system and to ensure that people do not have to call the Garda to deal with all sorts of neighbourhood problems. The bureau, in which I am no longer involved because, like all other Deputies, I cannot be everywhere, has dealt with many cases over the years. It has attempted to mediate between neighbours who were in disagreement about simple things like making too much noise. We should not have such confusion in respect of problems of this nature, which have been ongoing for generations. I repeat that the need to act as a good neighbour is the central aspect of this issue, about which we should be sensitive.

In fairness to this Bill, it attempts to address such issues. It hits a nerve on an issue with which none of us could disagree. When I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Roche, yesterday, he was clear about that point. When good political ideas are brought to the Chamber, it is good that they can be embraced by everybody in the interests of the common good. A great deal of good will come from that.

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