Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Tá mé féin agus mo pháirtí go huile is go hiomlán i gcoinne nan-athruithe atá luaite sa Bhille seo.

The Bill is draconian in nature and a dangerous gift to an inadequately reformed police force. It is unnecessary and unjustifiable because it curtails the rights of citizens and, crucially, does not address gangland crime or the related drugs crisis. The way to tackle gangland crime and the drugs crisis is to ensure that the Garda Síochána is properly resourced, that it has radios that work, access to the Internet, Garda stations that are fit to be occupied and cars and other equipment required for fighting crime. A series of legislation introduced has failed to deliver. Only last year we passed the Criminal Justice Act 2006. This Bill will amend that Act because the Tánaiste clearly believes he did not get it right last year. The Garda Síochána Act 2005, which is less than two years old, is also being changed. I can guarantee that the Tánaiste will get this one wrong and it will need to be changed particularly because of the haste in which he is introducing it and because of the undemocratic and ill-advised nature of the proceedings thus far.

The Bill will make a major change to the basis of our criminal justice system in areas such as the right to silence and mandatory sentences. The Tánaiste has not had consultation with the relevant groups. His review group to examine the balance in criminal law, which was announced in November, had the shortest period for submissions of any such group of which I am aware. Considering the remit of the group and the complexities of the issues involved, I expected considerably more time for that review group. That it only received 21 submissions speaks volumes in that regard. The Tánaiste published the heads of the Bill on the same day as he published the interim — not final — report. He has moved ahead of his own review group in introducing the Bill. While I am not saying that I agree with all the findings of the interim report, at least there was some consultation. There is no committee before which groups could appear and explain their opposition to the changes or even express support, if the Tánaiste managed to find any such groups in the State.

The Human Rights Commission, which has a specific oversight role in identifying failures in proposed legislation, has not even had the time to produce its comments on the Bill and we will not see those until next week, such is its workload, but such also is the haste of the Tánaiste. Even at this stage I urge him to slow down. The Act we passed last year has not had the effect the Tánaiste desired. The effect has not been seen and will not be seen for a number of years. Another Deputy once rightly described the Tánaiste as a serial legislator. His Department has produced more legislation than that of any other Minister. Indeed it may have produced more legislation than all the other Departments together. This merely indicates that the Tánaiste is good at producing legislation. However, he is not good at taking action. In the same period the crime figures have skyrocketed in some aspects.

Yesterday the Supreme Court increased the damages payable to Mr. Frank Shortt to €4.7 million because members of the Garda Síochána committed perjury and he ended up in prison. Responding to this outcome, the Tánaiste rightly said "Anyone who strongly supports the Garda Síochána...is entitled to feel a great sense of shock at what happened to Frank Shortt". The problem is that people are not shocked at what happened to Mr. Shortt because it was not a one-off case. There is a long list of other such cases, including those uncovered by the Morris tribunal and others going back to the Sallins train robbery scandal. There have been other cases in this city and many Deputies have been lobbied on behalf of people who have been abused while in Garda custody and elsewhere.

The Tánaiste also said that the treatment of Mr. Frank Shortt by the Garda means that there is no alternative but for the Government to pursue its radical reform. How can he reconcile the treatment of Mr. Shortt with his understanding of reform as expressed in this Bill and last year's Criminal Justice Act? Reforms extending unchecked Garda powers are beyond me. Speaking on the Order of Business this morning the Tánaiste rightly recalled a call for urgent action following the series of violent killings last November. I was one of those making such calls and have continued to call for urgent action to address gangland shootings and the drugs crisis in this city. However, the focus should be on communities and not on legislative gimmicks. Concentrating Garda resources on communities will have a greater effect than what is proposed in the Bill. Communities are crying out for better policing, not more police powers or the introduction of variants of existing offences, but the enforcement of existing powers to prosecute existing offences.

The use and deployment of Garda resources is a key issue. Successful convictions are determined by the work put into building cases and the availability of witness statements is influenced by the relationship between the communities and the Garda. Garda resources must focus on the two key areas of investigative work of gathering testimony, financial and physical evidence, and in particular community policing. Ten years ago the report on Garda effectiveness and efficiency recommended the civilianisation of appropriate tasks to permit the redeployment of fully trained gardaí. Further reports reinforced this recommendation in 2001 and 2006. While some progress has been made it has been insufficient by comparison with other EU countries. It has taken the high level of violent killings to force the Government to indicate that these recommendations will be implemented in full as quickly as possible.

The State needs to strip away the profits made from gangland crime. While it does great work at times, the Criminal Assets Bureau appears to be little more than a political tool, misused in cases that should be handled by the Revenue Commissioners. The Criminal Assets Bureau should prioritise the pursuit of drug barons great and small until the financial incentive to be gained from involvement in the illicit drug trade and gangland crime is diminished absolutely. The Government's response to gangland crime represented by the legislation before us does not do what is necessary. The Bill is more to do with getting the populist vote than in getting tough on criminals.

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