Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The measures that have been introduced in this regard are not working and the issues raised by Deputy O'Donnell are valid. Regardless of who is in Government in the coming years, the choice will be between addressing the issues in a timely manner or doing nothing and seeing what happens. The reason Opposition Members have to raise the same questions on a daily basis is because nothing is being done to address them.

I have seen the quality of local authority housing deteriorate over the past 20 years. Housing used to be built to a high standard but what will be the condition of the recently built duplex apartments and other types of nonsense in a few years time? If people do not have a reasonable quality of accommodation, problems will ensue. I do not know how to address the disrespect in certain housing estates for any kind of authority, which is particularly acute in the greater Dublin area. No efforts are being made to address this issue and nothing changes from day to day. There are countless examples of people moving out of estates, not all of which are owned by local authorities, in order to find safer environments for their children. That is a sad reflection on society, this House and local authorities.

We will not improve the situation merely by creating another quango to direct and co-ordinate services. The Department of Health and Children abolished the health boards, which were democratic and transparent, and replaced them with a massive quango from which even the Minister for Health and Children cannot get answers. That appalling scenario developed in front of our very noses. We even increased staffing levels by 33% over the past five years.

I do not know how this will proceed but I will make some suggestions on how to address the problems faced in estates. We do not have sufficient gardaí on the beat and increasing their numbers by four or five in a population centre of 25,000 ignores reality. It is a waste of time to say the numbers of garda have increased if they are not on the ground. More gardaí should ride motorbikes because the traditional method of policing with squad cars does not work. While on holidays in at least two European countries over the past couple of years, I observed police on mopeds. These are effective in terms of entering narrow alleys and being able to reach several places within minutes. Nothing has been done in that regard in Ireland because we do not seem to understand how to deploy the force to the best of its ability.

Gardaí should be stationed in the middle of the housing estates that are causing problems. At present, the organised gougers behind anti-social behaviour, which is how problems start, are able to disappear as soon as a squad car arrives only to resume their activities as soon as it turns the corner. These activities can be as simple as kicking the doors or breaking the windows of old age pensioners. Additional mobile patrols are also needed. I acknowledge that bicycles are useful but they are not as effective as motorbikes. They allow gardaí to reach places more quickly but they are not the answer.

The local authorities seem to be totally incapable of dealing with anti-social behaviour. Why can they not do something about it? People come to me every weekend to complain that their next-door neighbour is the neighbour from hell. I might hear the same complaint from the person living on the other side of that neighbour. In such a case I write to the local authority. In one case I have sent ten letters to the local authority on behalf of the complainants and have asked repeatedly whether it might think about exercising its duty of care towards its tenants which it housed beside the individual in question. The local authorities have a duty of care but shirk their responsibilities and avoid the issue in the hope it will go away. The old attitude remains: "We don't have extra houses. They will have to wait their turn. There are 3,000 people on the list." That is of no use to the unfortunate person who has to put up with a neighbour from hell. The Acting Chairman will know about such neighbours because they exist in his constituency also.

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