Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I propose to share time with Deputies Ó Snodaigh, Costello and Upton. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Ahern, has described this motion as opportunist and shoddy. Given the way politics is going in this country and outside this country, a hard neck is an essential ingredient to survive. One must really take off one's cap to the major party in this Government in that regard. For the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to describe this as an opportunist and shoddy motion belies the reality of life on the ground but, above all, conveniently forgets what this House was like in the mid-1990s when Fianna Fáil was in opposition. Given how long the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is in this House, could he have forgotten what zero tolerance was like? Could he have forgotten the scenes in this House when the crime situation was not remotely similar to the vicious spiral that is the reality now? Fianna Fáil Members came into this House with their then spokesman on justice and jumped up and down every morning. Was any regard given to responsibility? No, there was not. It paid dividends in the subsequent general election in 1997. That is my view and is shared by many.

Irresponsible beating of the drum on crime in the mid-1990s brought electoral dividends. Instead of being provocative, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should be on his knees every night, praying to whatever God he believes in thanking him that such a responsible position on crime is taken by the Opposition parties in this House now. He referred to the fact that the Labour Party opposed to the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act passed last summer. The Labour Party did not do so; it opposed section 8 of that Act, which asked the House to declare the ordinary court courts inadequate for the administration of justice and that crime bosses should be brought before the non-jury Special Criminal Court. At the time, the Minister's agents fed to the newspapers the story that 300 gang bosses would be rounded up at the weekend and that 300 gang bosses were ready for incarceration as soon as the President signed the Bill. I have the press cuttings from the time. That was in late June or early July. Eight months later, we can reasonably ask how many times the emergency legislation, brought in with such fanfare and brouhaha, has been invoked and how many cases have been before the Special Criminal Court. The answer is none, not one. The last thing the serious crime situation in this country requires is another legislative stunt. On that occasion I took offence at the rolling out of the relatives of victims of terrible tragedies of violence to praise the Minister's initiative and to welcome the step he took. The step was never necessary; the ordinary courts of this land are able to do the business. As this motion points out, the business lies in the enforcement of the existing law and better detection and convictions. The Minister boasts about the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act. One and a half years earlier I published a Garda Surveillance Bill and Deputy Ahern's predecessor described it as a Bill that would alert the criminal fraternity to Garda techniques. The quote sticks in one's mind if one has a mind like the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and myself. When one looks at the state of crime, one can set one's clock by the certainty that human life will have been taken in a violent incident at the end of the week. That is as certain as Saturday and Sunday dawn. The Minister should be a little more humble and should acknowledge the seriousness and responsibility of the Opposition in dealing with a matter with which Fianna Fáil would make hay in opposition.

I am a great admirer of the Irish Civil Service and the political aficionados who help the Minister to write his speeches. There is great detail in his speech. I do my best to compare the Minister's exposition with the report from the Garda Síochána Inspectorate last week. One is left with the view that we are in two different countries. I know there are thousands of dedicated policemen led by a Commissioner with a reputation that has rightly earned widespread respect. I was shocked by the report of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. It was brief, accessible, intelligible, common sense and a sensible report on what the inspectorate views as the state of the police force, its management, the deployment of resources, the technology available and the methodology pursued. It makes the most disturbing reading, recommendation after recommendation.

Deputy Andrew Doyle referred to the fact that gardaí are being rostered on Monday morning the same as on a Friday or Saturday night. I heard a spokesman for the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors on radio saying that most Garda stations do not have e-mail facilities. That is almost beyond belief in 2010. When one reads the report, is it any wonder, with regard to the technology available and the familiarity of the Garda Síochána with it, that we are in this situation?

The entire purpose of civilianisation was the use of competent civilians to free gardaí for front line policing duties. This has not happened; it has been a complete failure. The Government has not displaced a single garda. The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, the Taoiseach and the Celtic tiger would have recruited anybody especially if they had the right colour. The Government recruited civilians but it did not free up one garda for front-line duty. The civilianisation programme is highlighted in the recommendations of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. I take no pleasure in this situation.

Will the Minister explain how it is that after five or six years actively talking about reform in the Garda Síochána, along with the Garda Síochána Act and the Garda Ombudsman being established, a sober, competent, professional police officer from Boston and her colleagues could make such findings? Never mind the polite language or the verbal felicities that accompanied the publication of the report, the reality is set out in those recommendations. If we do not deal with it, and if the Minister does not deal with it as it is his responsibility, we will continue to see the Garda Síochána unable to operate to the maximum efficiency in dealing with the crime wave.

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