Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

This morning I heard a journalist from Northern Ireland being interviewed about why Ian Paisley suddenly changed his mind and entered into a coalition with Sinn Féin. The story goes that his wife said their children had never been able to walk the streets in Belfast safely but that their grandchildren should be able to do so. We need to ensure people can walk our streets safely. That is the responsibility of the Government.

We fail to recognise that in the past five to ten years the population has increased by 600,000, yet our police force has only 1,000 or 2,000 more members than it had seven or nine years ago. When I was growing up in Dalkey, we knew the local gardaí because there was no such thing as shift work or representative associations. They were on duty whenever they were needed. Nobody expects that today and even if they did, they would not get it because nowadays people are represented by various associations. It is time the Government sat down with the associations to talk about the problem.

The Government amendment states an aspiration to have 15,000 gardaí but, effectively, there will be only 3,000 on duty at any given time for the 26 counties of the Republic. There are three shifts with one unit resting, making four, and account must be taken of illness, special duties, court appearances and so on. We do not have 15,000 gardaí to patrol our streets. We must make up our mind to pay for this. There is no point in introducing more legislation or giving more power to the Garda if it does not have the numbers to implement the changes.

I was my party's spokesman on justice in 1988. The Intoxicating Liquor Act provided power to confiscate alcohol from youths, yet we talk about anti-social behaviour, youths drinking in open spaces and causing havoc. Twenty years ago we passed a law which provided that a garda could walk up and confiscate alcohol being drunk in public places. We also provided in that Act that it would be illegal to not sell alcohol over a counter in order that the seller would know who was paying for the drink. The problem was that the Minister of the day had to make an order to bring that provision into being but it was never made because of supermarket lobbying. The Government can have all the powers it likes but if it is not prepared to pay for personnel, the laws will not be implemented.

We do not have a sufficient number of gardaí to carry out the duties we expect them to peform. There is no point in criticising them if they do not have the numbers. We can give them more powers if they need them but let us not live in a society such that we cannot walk safely down a street and our every step is recorded on camera. I do not want to live in such a society. I want to return to my house in the evening, close the door and feel safe and know that my kids and grandchildren can walk the streets without fear.

As political organisations, we must also consider the type of society we want. Earlier today I spoke on the Finance Bill. The reality is that individualisation brought about an enormous change in this country under the taxation system. We ignored the good being done by a parent at home — 95% of the time by mothers. A mother absent from the home when children come in from school is a disaster in this society. All of us here recognise the benefit of having had a mother there when one came home, who kept one out of trouble and encouraged participation in organisations such as scouts, etc. All of that has changed. People are driving many miles to and from work and are tired when they come home in the evening. Then we wonder why the children are running riot. Let us get back to basics and realise we have made mistakes and should correct them.

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