Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I commend Deputy Flanagan on tabling this motion. A successful gangland criminal must have control over people's lives, whether it be the worker bees or the slaves on the lower level who live lives of misery in order that those on the upper level can profit. It has become so lucrative that those involved are now killing each other willy-nilly, because of an insult or a dirty look, just to have complete control.

Deputy Flanagan called on the Minister to fill senior Garda positions. For a whole host of reasons there have been more than 700 retirements from the Garda in the past year, not least because of the cumbersome issue of retirement gratuities. Speaking to gardaí, one finds that anyone with 30 years of service is now contemplating retirement, even if he or she previously had no intention of leaving the force. When we put this together with the data restrictions gardaí encounter in their everyday work when they are on duty, we can see they are being asked to take on the criminal with one hand tied behind their backs.

There are other matters, to do with the way the system works, which must be addressed. The rostering system means the same number of gardaí are on the beat on a Monday morning as on a Saturday night. As has been said before by experts, in many ways the solution to crime is as simple as having a Garda presence on the street. The streets of Manhattan have seen a transformation in the past ten or 15 years; at one time one dared not walk down certain streets even in broad daylight, but now one can walk there 24 hours a day, all because policing was dealt with from the top down and from the bottom up.

The area in which I live, sadly, has been a burial ground for victims of subversive organisations over the years. It was confirmed only today that remains found there recently were those of an unfortunate person who was abducted and had been missing for some time. The road leading from Dublin to the Sally Gap is no man's land. It is bandit country. If the Minister went up there tonight on his own he probably would be hijacked and have his car taken from him by gangs of criminals who, for sport, steal cars in the city, drive them around in rallies, burn them out and then steal other people's cars to go home. Coupled with this, since the advent of the new divisional structures, west Wicklow has had no holding facilities for criminals. The nearest holding facilities in the division are miles away in Bray. There has been a lack of co-operation, as the new structure has been introduced, between the Garda in Wicklow and those in Kildare and Carlow.

These are the issues that are working against the security forces in their efforts to take on crime. What we have asked for is simple. It is disingenuous for the Government to turn our proposal to introduce a mandatory life sentence of 25 years on its head by stating in its amendment "... rejects the implication that such prisoners should have an expectation of release after serving 25 years in prison", knowing full well that is not what is intended by our proposal. The Government amendment goes on to do the same with all our proposals, implying that we are attacking the Garda and not the Government.

I support the motion wholeheartedly. I hope the Government will do what it usually does, which is to implement the proposal in its own language some time soon.

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