Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter. Currently, burglaries and break-ins have reached an unacceptable level in County Galway. People in every town and village and in isolated areas have experienced houses being ransacked in one way or another by marauding thugs who operate in the dead of night. That is the only way I can explain them. Shops, supermarkets, pubs, garages, churches and houses have been affected.

There appears to be no end in sight to this crime epidemic. We always had a certain level of crime but in the past three or four months the criminals have gone into overdrive. This current spate of crime is a mirror image of the dreadful attacks on the elderly a number of years ago in the west. The Ceann Comhairle will remember the Government and the Garda had to introduce drastic measures to put an end to it. This was known as Operation Shannon and employed gardaí at checkpoints during the night at bridges crossing into the west. A helicopter added a sense of urgency to the project. The good news is that the Garda operation was successful.

However, there are some major differences in what is happening currently. As nobody has yet lost a life, this vandalism and thuggery does not attract the same national media attention. However, serious damage is done to property and much income is lost. There is fear among people that their houses and business will be burgled. It is a psychological issue in that nobody knows who will be next.

Nobody knows who is responsible for that behaviour, and that is the worst scenario. However, a trend is emerging. When the vandals strike they invariably use precise and accurate local knowledge. Who is supplying the information? Nobody knows that either, but I hope my raising this matter in the House today will improve the chance of these thugs being apprehended. If so, it is vital the local mole, spy or parasite is deemed to be as culpable as the thugs themselves. What is happening throughout County Galway could not be organised if extremely local knowledge was not available. For example, when a family is away for a wedding, its house is targeted. If a farmer sells cattle at a mart, a few days later his house is burgled.

I do not have time to list all the examples but incredibly local knowledge is involved. The situation is so bad that nothing short of a ring of steel by the Garda is warranted. I ask for more gardaí, more resources and more equipment so the Garda will be able to handle this scourge before it gets out of hand.

The Minister of State should ensure my comments are delivered directly to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The people of County Galway have a problem on their hands. While I assume the situation is as bad in other areas, we are going through a storm at present and I want action to be taken.

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