Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing my colleague and I to raise this issue and I thank the Minister for being here to take it. In the past two months, in particular - the statistics will not yet show this - there has been a very serious increase robberies and burglaries of houses, and I speak from my own experience in County Mayo. On this occasion, the practitioners are getting more brazen. At least four incidents have been brought to my attention in recent weeks. People were in their houses and the burglars either came in through the front and took stuff from the front of the house or through the back door when the residents were in the front of the house. As the Minister can imagine, this situation is causing grave concern throughout County Mayo.

There have also been a number of robberies of businesses. In one case, the robbery was the tipping point, although not the main reason, which forced the owner to give up. He could no longer carry on and, as a result, a viable business went bust. There has been an increase in robberies in recent weeks in all the towns throughout County Mayo. A number of empty houses along the N5, the main Mayo-Dublin road, where families were at work or were on holidays during mid-term, were broken into. It suggests a very prepared and organised group of people who were observing people's movements and people's houses. This is a matter of serious concern.

Local gardaí are doing their best but they do not have the resources to deal with this. Earlier in the year the Minister established Operation Fiacla as a Dublin and commuter belt response, but it needs to be expanded. We need something similar to the traffic corps where gardaí can respond very quickly to such situations because there is a trend which shows that some areas are being targeted over two or three days. A number of houses in an area are done over a number of days, so a group seems to be spending time in an area or else it is locally based.

I have spoken to local gardaí but their hands are tied in terms of resources. The Garda Commissioner will appear before the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality tomorrow and Deputy Niall Collins will raise the issue with him. There is a fear in communities as we come into the darker period of winter and people feel unprotected. We need to address this as a matter of urgency. Has the Garda Commissioner consulted the Minister or has the Commissioner brought it to his attention? I know from talking to colleagues from all parties that this is a problem throughout County Mayo, in particular in the past two months.

In the context of the budgetary discussions which the Minister is having, would it be possible to consider a scheme where people installing security facilities in their houses, whether an alarm or a lighting system, would get some sort of tax credit towards that installation? It would promote employment and a little sense of security in people's homes.

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