Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Minister for Justice and Equality's version of the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012. I wish to begin where Deputy John O'Mahony finished by stating I have penalty points. Ironically enough, I obtained most of them while travelling through Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan's constituency, either on my way to the Dáil or on my way back home. I was never contacted to see if I wanted to have my penalty points expunged and never wrote a letter seeking to have them expunged. The notion that all Members of this House live in a reality which is separate from that occupied by everyone else is ridiculous. If one receives penalty points, one accepts that fact and then gets rid of them after two years. I hope someone will not obtain so many points that it will lead to him or her being banned from driving. The holier than thou attitude on this matter is crazy.

I endorse what Deputy John O'Mahony said about the Garda Síochána. Tonight, thousands of members of the force are on duty throughout the country. God knows what situations they will come across as they seek to protect the people of this state. As is the case with every operation, there are a few bad eggs. However, the vast majority of members of the Garda Síochána seek to serve both their communities and the State and they do so under tremendous pressure. That pressure has never been greater than it is today. It is completely unfair to come before the House and continually criticise gardaí, particularly in view of the fact that we depend on them so much for the security they provide for our homes and communities and in many other areas.

It is welcome that the Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter, finally got around to publishing the Bill. We published our own legislation in 2011, but he dismissed it and stated he would bring forward his own. He has done so now and I welcome the opportunity it provides to discuss the issue of spent convictions. As my party's spokesperson on justice and equality, I came to this matter relatively late. My colleague in the previous Dáil, former Deputy Barry Andrews, discussed it with me and presented me with the Bill he had introduced in 2008. We then reintroduced that Bill which opened up for me an entirely new area of correspondence and telephone calls with people throughout the country on their personal experiences of spent convictions. I received approximately 20 calls from parents whose children were seeking either to travel or emigrate and who could not do so as a result of minor offences they had committed in their late teens or early 20s. In many cases, they committed such offences while under the influence of alcohol or while at college. Their convictions are now on their records, which is why they are precluded from travelling to the United States and many other destinations. Perhaps the Minister might clarify the position in this regard, but I understand what I have outlined will not change. In other words, such convictions will remain on people's records. Many were hoping this Bill would change the position. The people to whom I refer have already paid the price for what they did in their early or late teens or their early 20s. They were obliged to go to court and were convicted for the offences they had committed.

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