Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I wanted to compliment the Minister on something since he complimented me recently. I was not sure what it would be, but I suppose it is the amount of legislation he has managed to bring in. He seems to be a great Minister for legislation. However, the legislation, including this Bill, always seems to be all over the place. There is simply no coherent strategy in the Bill. I think the Minister described it as part of his measures against organised crime.

I have watched the Minister since he took office and must say that he is out of his depth. He is certainly a very able Minister when it comes to the niceties of the law. However, when it comes to understanding how to deal with crime on the streets, drug crime, particularly in disadvantaged communities but now extending throughout the country, and organised crime, which is effectively organised drug crime, he is overwhelmed by the task.

Even the timing of this measure is evidence of this, coming as it does way past the eleventh hour of this Government. It seems to be little more than a belated public relations package put together in good time for the general election to say that these are all the things the Minister has done. I am sorry to be forced to say this because I tend to want to support any effective measure that can contribute to taking on organised crime. The reality is that during the tenure of the Government and his time as Minister, organised crime has spiralled and expanded its activities way beyond anything in the past. This the context in which I look at this measure.

I know I only have a few minutes in which to speak so I will mention what Deputy Finian McGrath said. I go to many meetings throughout my constituency. I will not mention particular communities because one never wishes to stigmatise local areas in respect of crime. When one goes to areas where there are public meetings attended by many elderly people and parents of young children who are fearful of anti-social behaviour and drug crime, one finds that they all say the same thing. They all say that what is needed as a visible deterrent is gardaí patrolling on the beat. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few high-profile areas, they do not see gardaí visibly patrolling on the beat.

Much has been said in this House about the promised 2,000 gardaí and so on. Seemingly, they are now on stream. The shame is that those gardaí were not made available when they could have been. When the money was there to bring them into service, they were not brought in. This Government has been in office in one form or another for long enough. If these gardaí had been brought in and the community Garda sections in the Garda Síochána given the manpower, they could have made a huge inroad into the drugs problem and prevented much of what has happened in more recent times and the way organised crime has developed. I agree with the view held by many communities that the greatest deterrent to crime of most sorts is the visibility of gardaí on the beat working with young people and linking up with people generally in the community. I am sure the Government has been aware of this for a long time, but unfortunately it has not taken the necessary action. Anything that has been done has been in a similar vein to the Bill before us, belated, at the last minute and on the eve of a general election.

As I entered the Chamber, I heard Deputy O'Connor refer to CCTV. One group in my constituency applied to Pobal, Dublin City Council and various other bodies for funding to provide a closed circuit television system in its area. Significant grants were garnered from a number of sources, but ultimately the group was informed the main grant from Pobal was dependent on its putting together €17,000 of its own funding, which it does not have. I do not know the Tánaiste's view, but I have tabled parliamentary questions on the matter so he is familiar with the case in question. The group has managed to raise approximately €150,000 in official grants but this money cannot be utilised because there is a difficulty in finding €17,000 at the drop of a hat. Without this sum of money, the project will not go ahead. Given that crime tends to be most prevalent in less affluent areas, this issue is in need of serious re-examination.

I raised with the Tánaiste on a number of occasions one of the strategies I believe should be utilised against organised crime. I suggested the Criminal Assets Bureau should be localised and that local operatives should work in communities where drug crime is extensive. The Tánaiste appeared to consider it a good idea. I previously raised the issue of a criminal assets bureau, prior to its establishment, when Deputy Quinn was Minister for Finance. He thought it was a good idea also, yet nobody did anything about these issues until they were forced to do so. Even thought the Tánaiste considers localising the Criminal Assets Bureau is a good idea, he appears very slow to move on it. Unless we do this, we will not get to grips with the type of lifestyle that is attracting young people into drugs crime.

I am involved with a community policing forum in the north inner city which has tried to set up a partnership between the community and the Garda and to get accountability from both parties. In the past week — possibly as a result of my raising the issue in the House — that forum met with senior gardaí in the Criminal Assets Bureau. I met with Garda John McDermott, the new head of the Criminal Assets Bureau, and his deputy, the co-ordinator of the forum and the chief superintendent and superintendent from Store Street Garda station. They agreed to combine their resources and designate a number of gardaí in the Store Street area to focus on the criminal assets of middle-range drug dealers. It is not entirely what I had in mind in localising or regionalising the Criminal Assets Bureau but it is a step in the right direction. I thank the chief superintendent of Store Street Garda station, Mick Feehan, for initiating that meeting.

When I advocated the notion that there should be a local drug unit in Store Street, I recall being told in the House that local drug units were not a good idea. However, one such unit was established in Store Street and more have been established throughout the country since then. Although the Tánaiste's opinion appears to differ from this, I was informed in replies to parliamentary questions that having local sections of the Criminal Assets Bureau is not a good idea. However, I am being told this by the same people who did not believe the Criminal Assets Bureau was a good idea until they were forced to set it up.

I wish that initiative well in Store Street under the direction of Chief Superintendent Mick Feehan. It should prove of benefit to designate particular gardaí to be trained in liaison with the Criminal Assets Bureau to go after middle-range drug dealers and take their assets from them under existing powers. As in many other areas, the bureau itself has a limited number of gardaí, solicitors etc., available to it and it inevitably focuses on high profile major dealers throughout the country. Meanwhile, in my area and many other parts of Dublin, the middle-range drug dealers take control and reap the benefits and little or nothing is done about them.

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