Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am disappointed with the Minister of State and the Government that they did not accept this Bill. If there were elements they did not like, these could have been dealt with on Committee Stage. That has happened in the House before. Deputies Flanagan and Shatter have brought Bills before the House and previous Governments have brought in the necessary amendments on Committee Stage to deal with them. I cannot understand why the Government did not do this. Everybody is crying out for this legislation. The Law Reform Commission has made recommendations and of course the McCarthy report recommended the abolition of the commission, so how will it do its job if this is implemented? It is important that we have the Law Reform Commission to make recommendations. The courts are telling us we need to change the law and bring in legislation that protects the home owner.

We have had a fair share of difficulties with robbers and burglars in my constituency and seen some of our citizens tied up in their homes and murdered. We have had other high profile cases in the constituency where people were afraid in their own homes. There is nothing worse than to live in fear in one's own home. Mine is the third biggest county in Ireland with many rural areas. We have these travelling gangs, as Deputy Burke has said, coming through our constituencies, driving through the night, robbing and beating up the elderly and people living in isolated areas. Admittedly, people do not want to take the law into their own hands. Neither Deputy Flanagan nor I is saying people should shoot on sight. We thought about this Bill. We are not saying that somebody should be shot if one sees him or her in one's garden. Quite simply we are arguing that if somebody attacks a husband or wife, daughter, son or one's goods, one has a right to save one's family and property. In the event, when this happens the law is on the side of the perpetrator.

I came across a case recently where a guy who was robbing a house fell and broke his ankle and he wanted to sue the occupier. That is the type of legislation we want to change, to bring the power to the people that are in their homes. I am not suggesting that the Minister of State should be shot if he comes knocking at my door at 10 o'clock at night. I know there are those who might want to shoot many Fianna Fáil people, but I am not one of them.

See this speech in context