Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

This debate should be of longer duration and it is long overdue. This matter needs to be addressed in more detail. I have much time and respect for the new Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and I wish him well. I know that he understands the situation. However, I am pessimistic about the current position and where we are going.

The institutions of State have lost the battle already. We have gone down the road so far in failing to vindicate our position, in failing to justify our existence and in failing to defend the public. The courts have failed to do their job, for one reason or another. We, the legislators, respond too slowly, inadequately and late. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has responded too slowly to date. This is not a criticism of the Minister. It is a fact that all the institutions of State have stood idly by while the people are being put to the wall, and it is a sad situation.

In New York and Chicago in years gone by, when the criminals first took control of the streets they shot each other and after a while they began to shoot the police, and that is what is happening here. It is a disgrace. Nothing will change until we take serious stock of what is happening.

One can state that at present serious criminals are brought into court, but more often than not there is complete disregard for the new bail laws and they get out on bail to commit more crime. They get free legal aid at the taxpayers' expense to ensure that they get their rights and they walk out of court to repeat the crime.

Like several other Members of this House in recent years, I have tried to get information in that regard. The Minister can control this to a certain extent through the replies we receive in the House but if we do not get accurate replies to probing questions, it will make life more difficult for the administration of justice, for the Minister and, ultimately, for the people.

Hardened criminals are the order of the day. They live high on the hog and go to the sunniest sun spots worldwide for their recreation and sometimes as part of their lifestyle they remain there. They are internationally known and recognised. They thumb their noses at the law and they ridicule the society they left behind. They extort and they use every means at their disposal to continue expanding their empires. Right from within the prisons they can run their empires. They intimidate and threaten from within the prisons and they can get away with crimes for which they should be made accountable.

How many times have we seen young thugs who want to emulate these people coming out of the courts and giving the two fingers to everybody and anybody — to the media, to the Minister, to the Oireachtas and to the courts — and walking away? In fact, they have been immortalised in paint on canvas in some parts of the country.

It is deplorable that we have got to the stage where these people seem to do at will what they want. That is why we have petty crime. It is not that the petty criminals are the cause of it but they see what is going on around them. As a result, there is complete disregard for property and for life. It is a vicious cycle.

Drug crime has been mentioned by others. My response to those who say I exaggerate is to say that in every town and village there is a drug problem. In every school, even the primary schools, there is a drug problem. We have a serious situation on our hands and until some means is found to deal with matters such as the intimidation of witnesses, we will not know where we are going. Are we all gone daft?

I will go one step further. It may well be necessary to introduce special criminal courts. I do not see how else these matters will be addressed, and I am as much a civil libertarian as anybody else. The innocent citizens going about their business are as much entitled to their civil liberties as anybody else. We are letting them down, and the quicker we come to recognise that, the better.

See this speech in context