Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I congratulate Deputy Charles Flanagan for bringing forward this Bill. I listened to him as he dealt with the legal and technical reasons why the legislation is needed. I also congratulate his predecessor as party spokesman, Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, who tabled a similar Bill in 2006. Fine Gael does not advocate or encourage force, but defends a person's right to defend himself or herself and the family in the home.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Criminal Law (Home Defence) Bill 2009, as it is important that we protect the victim rather than the criminal, especially within people's own homes. This Bill, if passed, would mean that if someone breaks into a house and one must use force against him or her, such force is presumed to be reasonable. It means, in the event, that the person using force could not be prosecuted as a criminal. It would also mean the intruder or criminal could not sue for damage done to him or her.

The Bill also covers one if somebody breaks into one's house against whom one uses force and he or she dies. If the force used is reasonable, there will be no prosecution for murder. However, if force is intentionally used that is likely to kill, the Bill will not protect the user of that force.

The reason this Bill is being brought forward is that concerns as regards the protection of people in their homes still remain, as highlighted by the contradiction that a person can be liable in a civil action for any force he or she uses against a trespasser in such an incidence. This issue has not been dealt with the in the programme for Government or by any other party in the current Dáil, even though we were promised it would be addressed when we produced a similar Bill in 2006.

The protection of people in their homes and in their own areas, especially in the Border region, from Donegal right through Cavan-Monaghan and Louth, was never more important. Deputy Joe McHugh dealt with that to some degree a few minutes ago. People are living in fear because of the actions of a small minority who refuse to accept the peace process and for that reason I am pleading that not only should Garda numbers be maintained in the Border region, but if necessary, improved.

As with Deputy McHugh, I want to suggest it is unacceptable that no Garda station is open at night in an area from Ballyconnell to Monaghan town.

Last year there was a case of what seemed to be an isolated incidence of a bomb discovered in the Rosslea area along the Monaghan-Fermanagh section of the Border. Only this week we had another threat in that same area, which as I speak has not been confirmed, although people in the area and those travelling through it on the main Monaghan-Enniskillen road are being inconvenienced and threatened. This scare follows immediately after a real bomb in Donegal town, which it took a bomb disposal group four hours to reach. There was also a 600 pound bomb at the edge of Forkhill, as well as threats to the parents and sisters of a PSNI officer in Derry city. It is sad to think that while Catholics are being encouraged to join the Norther Ireland police force, the PSNI, they are put under threat when they do.

I raise these issues because it is important that people living down the country realise the threats and fears that so many people have to cope with in the Border region. Only last May when I canvassed the Clones region, in what is known as a "no go" area, I found people living in desperate fear.

As Deputy McHugh indicated, I want to mention the issue of gun licences. Many small farmers and others have held gun licences down through the years, for their own protection as well as to shoot vermin. Such a person now has to fill in a nine-page form, which is a move away from the ordinary to the ridiculous. We blame the EU for all the form filling at the agricultural level, yet here we have a situation where our people are being asked to fill in such a form. The Minister might argue that it is simple and all the rest, but for an ordinary uneducated person it is absolutely over the top and we need to ensure that those people do not panic and allow their guns to be taken away from them, because they were useful and offered them some form of protection. I believe the Minister has some role in that regard.

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