Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I very much appreciate the opportunity to raise this rather technical issue. I regret that the line Minister, Deputy Shatter, cannot be here but I appreciate he is in committee this afternoon. I am grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for taking this issue.

The Minister, were he here, would be aware that alarms have in recent years worked on a dual-communication regime of a telephone line in conjunction with GPS. The reason GPS is used is that it is the standard laid down in regulation in SI 307 of 2009 which governs alarm systems which are required by those keeping firearms on the premises, whether for private or commercial use.

These GPS backed systems are now used widely in all State buildings, post offices, banks, armoured security cars and businesses and, indeed, in thousands of private homes. It was a good standard. In fact, GPS is a wonderful technology that we all use on our mobile telephones and elsewhere. It worked well for this purpose as well until it was overtaken by the ingenuity of the criminal mind which eventually caught up with the technology.

There is now a jamming system, a little mobile device available on the Internet, which has been successfully imported into Ireland and is being used by the criminal fraternity. The way it works is that, by using a little hand-held device no bigger than a mobile phone, they can jam the signal outside the premises and break in, secure in the knowledge that for the time that they are present there is no signal going to the local Garda station. They know that they have all the time in the world to get on with whatever they are at.

The Minister will be aware that there was a welcome drop in all crime levels, except burglaries, announced only last week. I am not saying that there is a causal effect between the increase in the number of burglaries and the increased use of these jammers, but I can say that the jammers are being imported and they are being used by criminals.

My request to the Minister is that he would consider not replacing GPS systems as the standard but allowing an alternative so there is an officially sanctioned choice available to those who must secure their firearms by an alarm system and, consequently, intimate to all alarm users, including ATMs, security cars and post offices, that there are other systems which cannot be jammed and are now maybe better than the GPS that has been in use. Long-range radio telemetry offers an alternative to cellular technology and it is almost impossible to jam because the repeater technology makes it almost impossible to track from where the waves are coming.

I ask, if the Minister is agreeable, that he ask the Garda Commissioner not to take my word for it but to seek the views of the Garda communications unit on this issue. There are many in the force who are aware of this, understand the problem and are genuinely concerned. I ask that the Commissioner seek the expert advice of those who are in a position in the force to give it and communicate his advice back to the Minister.

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