Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I thank Deputy Charles Flanagan for affording us this opportunity and compliment him on his work in this area. I speak as a child of Crumlin, which is a sister community of Drimnagh. I do not get as many opportunities to speak on radio as some of my colleagues, but some weeks ago I was interviewed on radio and spoke about the unfair reputation assigned to communities such as Crumlin and Drimnagh. In the wake of all the controversy about gangland activity, I singled out Drimnagh and observed that it was unfair to tarnish whole communities. I stand over my statement that in all these communities, including those in our constituency to which Deputy Rabbitte made reference, the majority of people are decent and law-abiding. It is unfair that they are bracketed in the way they are. It is important that this should be said in light of recent events.

Like other Members, I was horrified at what happened on Benbulbin Road two weeks ago. It was absolutely horrific and I deeply sympathise not only with the families concerned but with the community generally. I was upset when I heard the statement by the Polish association that there may have been a racist motive. That is even more regrettable and will upset people even more. It will be interesting to see how that situation develops.

Deputy Rabbitte and I will not disagree on this issue because we live and work in a community that has had its difficulties in this regard and where there have been challenges in terms of anti-social behaviour. I am never afraid to condemn those who engage in such behaviour. I often observe that I come from a bygone Dublin era where, as we played football on the street, we knew precisely what time the local garda would pass on his bicycle. There should be a return to such visible policing. I will not disagree with the Minister other than to say that all communities want to see local gardaí on the beat. This is not just about what happened in Drimnagh in recent weeks. Local people like to see friendly faces. If a garda does a good job in a community, he or she is more likely to be promoted and therefore lost to that community. I do not suggest that good gardaí should not be promoted because it is fair enough that they are promoted. Garda headquarters and the Minister should be promoting an ethos whereby the men and women of the Garda walk the streets of our communities and are visible to young people. Young people should not just see gardaí when they are in trouble.

I was glad the Minister made a distinction between what is going on and the need for facilities. While none of us will ever excuse public disorder — I will certainly never do so — the Minister and the Government need to understand that communities need additional facilities and other forms of assistance. Deputy Rabbitte has spoken about the Garda diversion projects, which are strongly supported in Tallaght. Resources should continue to be made available to projects like those in Brookfield, Tymon North and west Tallaght. I hope the Minister will do that. He should understand that there is a great deal of cross-party concern about this issue. I wish him well as he tackles it.

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