Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Could the local authorities find it in their inner recesses to respond in some way to genuine complaints? They are treating evildoers and those who obey the rules equally.

Another development has taken place in regard to local authority housing in the past five or ten years. There is a reluctance on the part of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to become involved in house building. It shirks its responsibilities and hands them over to voluntary organisations which cherrypick from the housing list. Ultimately, those left on the list are housed together in one area and we have seen the social problems which result. The Department can either address this issue or suffer the consequences. There will be more areas like Moyross and other parts of Limerick as time passes, unless this issue is dealt with. The Department has ultimate responsibility. If anyone thinks I am talking rubbish, I ask that a senior official of the Department visit housing estates where there are such problems. They would then know them at first hand and at an earlier stage and be in a better position to intervene and introduce corrective measures to protect citizens who are minding their own business.

My final point is not directly related to the Bill. We have reached a point where ordinary legal methods of dealing with crime and criminals are insufficient and no longer work. Criminals do not give a damn what legislation is introduced. They are carrying out their nefarious activities with impunity and with total disregard and contempt for the law and the rest of society. For their own protection, they will have to be detained and taken off the streets. There is no other way to deal with this problem. If the Minister of State or anybody else thinks it will be dealt with by any other means, I tell them to wait and see. It has already got out of hand. I have heard references to negotiation and mediation. I know then that people are thinking about other conflicts in this country but the circumstances, origins and issues were different — everything was different.

Those on the other side of the House should take account of the way we are sliding and try to address it as a matter of urgency. Otherwise, we will wake up some morning to a repeat of the Veronica Guerin tragedy which happened almost 12 years ago. If something similar happens, everybody will wake up and say the time has come to tilt the law in favour of law-abiding citizens and reject those who set out to break it on a regular basis.

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