Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for his comprehensive contribution to the debate earlier and welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate.

Crime is a policy area high on the agenda of every political party. This Government is providing unprecedented resources to all elements of the criminal justice system and has given a commitment to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 16,000. The most recent crime statistics may show a minor improvement but statistics cannot give a picture of the suffering and damage caused within our communities by crime. We must not lose sight of the fact that each crime is one too many and has a negative impact on individuals and communities. The sad fact is that victims feel they are the forgotten element in the criminal justice system.

The Criminal Justice Bill 2007 gave the body politic an opportunity to send a clear and unambiguous message that, as a society, we are not prepared to allow organised criminal gangs to set about the destruction of families and communities. In addition, the programme for Government includes a wide range of policy proposals to deal with crime and its causes. The programme for Government committed to increase Garda numbers to 16,000 by 2012. An additional 300 civilian support posts in administration for the Garda Síochána will release further gardaí to visible, frontline policing duties. Many speakers have pointed out that Garda visibility on our streets will play a key role in reducing crime rates.

A major expansion of Garda and community CCTV schemes is under way. These schemes can play an important role in fighting crime and antisocial behaviour and, in doing so, afford greater peace of mind to communities. Crime affects all of society and cannot be tackled effectively without the support and engagement of local communities.

The largest ever Garda station construction programme is currently under way, with €260 million allocated in the national development programme for stations. In my constituency, a new Garda station is currently being constructed in Leixlip at a cost of €4 million and it will open in autumn 2008, a welcome development for north Kildare.

We have committed to introducing a community payback scheme that will require offenders who are not subject to automatic prison terms to provide real services for the communities they have damaged, including street cleaning and painting over graffiti. A system where parental responsibility must be borne for criminal damage and costs incurred by victims of their children's antisocial behaviour will also be provided. While this may deal with a certain proportion of petty crime, it is my experience that much of the antisocial behaviour is carried out by people who are not under the legal control of their parents — boy racers are not always boys.

While increased resources, better technology and infrastructure and fit for purpose criminal legislation all assist in dealing with crime, a debate on the subject is not complete without looking at how we can prevent it. In my constituency of Kildare North there has been a rapid increase in population with significant growth in residential development. Economic success has led to a rapid rise in our population and while this success is welcome it brings with it challenges we must now address. The large residential areas now need a focused approach to building communities around the bricks and mortar of our housing estates. This is the time to invest in our communities in Naas, Maynooth, Clane, Celbridge and Leixlip so we can attract young people into sport, community activities and education.

I welcome the Government commitment to allocate €150 million to the community development fund over the next five years to build the infrastructure required to sustain these communities and I will press the Government to ensure Kildare gets its fair share of this funding. The development fund offers and opportunity to retrofit community facilities for these areas, particularly for young people.

Kildare is often seen as a wealthy county and while it has significant industry, it is not immune from the modern challenges all communities face. In Kildare North there is only one Garda youth diversion project, in Celbridge. These projects are an ideal mechanism for engaging with young people. They aim to help young people to move away from doing things that might get them or their friends into trouble with the law and can help them to develop their sense of community and social skills through activities such as employment training, sport, art and music. These projects seek to foster a better quality of life for everyone in the community and to support good relations between gardaí and the community. I urge the Minister to consider expanding this project to other towns in Kildare North and I welcome his earlier contribution on this.

Organisations such as the GAA, FAI and other national sports bodies also have a key role to play in building our communities. These organisations have contributed in no small way over the years to give our young people options to ensure their spare time is spent positively. Central and local government and these organisations can work together to penetrate new commuter belts and achieve better participation in sport from our younger people.

Partnership, between local interests and organisations and between communities, local and national government and the Garda Síochána, is an essential feature of the fight against crime.

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