Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin supports this Bill. Although my party will support the passage of this legislation, this does not take away from the rise in assaults, sexual offences this year, theft, fraud and burglaries under the current Administration. As the Garda Inspectorate report on crime investigation revealed, the number of such offences may be higher but has been under-represented in Central Statistics Office statistics due to errors in the categorisation of some offences. This is compounded by the Government's closure of so many Garda stations throughout the State, thereby increasing the uncertainty, fear and isolation felt by citizens it is tasked to protect. This results from an austerity agenda that places savings to the Exchequer over the security and safety of the citizens within this State. While the targeting of serial offenders within this Bill is to be welcomed, the structural causes that give rise to the problem of burglaries are a result of the direct decisions made by the Government. Recent CSO statistics illustrate several increases in crime rates when comparing the year ending June 2014 with the year ending June 2015. Assaults increased by 10% from 14,548 to 16,054. Burglaries increased by 8% from 26,589 to 28,830. Sexual offences increased by 3% from 2,006 to 2,072. Theft increased by 2% to 78,885, while fraud offences increased by 6% to 5,337. In the past year, the number of burglaries has risen by 2,241. In Dublin alone, burglaries have risen by 15%. Although these figures are startling as they stand, the true number of crimes may be much greater. An audit in June of Garda statistics from 2011 by the CSO located 75,000 crimes the Garda had not recorded, which included 5,100 burglaries. According to Cormac O'Keeffe of the Irish Examiner, the CSO still does not know whether there have been improvements to the Garda system since that audit.

What can be said is that under the current Government, the rates of certain criminal offences continue to rise while Garda stations continue to close. In response to my parliamentary question regarding the closure of Garda stations, the Minister has confirmed that the Government has closed 139 stations, which has resulted in a minuscule saving of €556,000 per annum, as an average of just €4,000 per annum has been saved on utilities and maintenance per station. Such a small saving has had a disproportionate negative effect within rural communities and Sinn Féin is not alone in identifying this problem. A number of interested parties have identified the effects of such poor decision making. For example, according to the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, the decisions made by the Government to close Garda stations in service to an austerity agenda has resulted in increased crime and that "We are now witnessing the human impact of...seven years of austerity". The AGSI further outlined that its office has been inundated with concerns regarding increased crime, particularly in rural areas. There is a palpable sense of fear in rural communities as the services of the State retreat to urban areas far from where they are needed. At the funeral of John O'Donoghue, who died after disturbing burglars in August of this year, Fr. Tony Ryan stated "Perhaps our politicians will see to increasing a Garda presence on the ground in rural Ireland again to reassure all who feel so alone". It is difficult to see how the continuing closure of Garda stations will alleviate Fr. Ryan's concerns. In addition, according to a Garda source reported in The Irish Times, closure of rural Garda stations exacerbates the sense of fear and corresponding uncertainty. Indeed, one does not need a Garda source and I prefer to have quotations from official Garda representative associations such as the Garda Representative Association, or the AGSI rather than sources. In addition, one could refer to the Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association, or parish councils across the State all of which confirm that view. The closure of rural Garda stations severs this tie with the community with the added problem that existing crime is neither reported nor detected.

Similarly, Séamus Boland of Irish Rural Link has pointed out that the Government's only policy in place is the closure of court decisions. The high visibility of a local Garda station and the visible absence of such are advantageous only to those with criminal intent. Since the criminal fraternity knows which stations have closed, it means Garda presence is less and, presumably, the opportunity for evading gardaí is greater. Closing Garda stations directly undermines the confidence the community has in policing with reliability and speed of response being directly affected. As part of Sinn Féin's reform agenda, key principles which must inform any project of change for An Garda Síochána include policing with the community to develop maximum confidence in the policing service and to maximise co-operation between citizens and An Garda Síochána.

The impact of rural crime and the absence of Garda stations is particularly apparent in neglected Border regions. At present, the delivery of policing and justice is undermined by partition. Criminality and illegality do not recognise borders and cross-Border co-operation makes sense for Border communities where common working and protocols can tackle criminal behaviour and can promote community safety. The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly carried out a detailed examination of cross-Border criminality over the course of a year and published its report earlier this year. Sinn Féin supports the 16 recommendations arising from its report and calls on the Government to act on those recommendations and in particular the call for a cross-Border and inter-agency police service joint task force to tackle these criminals head on.

I wish to repeat a statement I made previously in the Chamber today. Those responsible for criminality in the Border areas are criminals. I do not care if some of them may have been in the IRA or not; they are criminals. They are a threat to communities and are taking huge amounts of money that could be spent on the health services and education systems on this island. I wish to see the PSNI and An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners and HMRC on this island fully resourced in a joint task force to tackle these gangs head on and to remove their revenue from them. I read the Minister's interview with The Sunday Times and I wish to be clear: if hundreds of millions of euro are being made, it is in the hands of criminals and it must be taken from them. Not a single member, cumann, branch, comhairle ceantair, ard chomhairle or structure of our political party benefits from that or any other kind of criminality. Sinn Féin raises its money from church-gate collections, nights at the races, lottos and from frustrating our members at every branch meeting about the need to raise funds, as I am sure the Minister does at her branch meetings and as does every single community, policing, sporting and political organisation on this island. I am proud to be a member of Sinn Féin and I stand shoulder to shoulder with communities across this island that are confronting the scourge of criminality.

If the Minister's focus is on tackling the Border gangs and taking resources from them, she will have 110% support from Sinn Féin. If her objectives are to implement the 16 recommendations from the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly and the suggestions by Ronnie Flanagan, who has had meetings here in recent times, we will fully support them. The message from these Houses, therefore, has to be that there is no political party or elected representative in these Houses and there is no elected representative on councils anywhere on the island who gives succour to criminality in any way, shape or form. We need to tell the Garda and the PSNI that they have the full support of these Houses to tackle that head on and we need to resource them to do that.

I have met gardaí and PSNI officers in the North in my role as justice spokesperson and I have assured them that they have full support of our party. Whatever resources we can deploy collectively across the island, we need to do that. I would say to any journalist who has an agenda to cut out the nonsense. If journalists have evidence of criminality, they should produce it and cut out the nonsense and political agendas. They should take every single word I have said today as the justice spokesperson for Sinn Féin and print it in their newspaper next week rather than their utter nonsense and slurs of criminality against Irish republicans that they publish week in, week out. They should stop their nonsense and cop themselves on. Gardaí should be given the resources they need to do their job and the Minister will have 110% backing from my party if she needs it.

People should stop criminalising members of my party. Frank McCabe is an Irish republican in south Armagh. Criminals tried to kill him in recent times for the stand he has taken and they almost killed his son. They put a booby trap bomb on a poster. That is the price we pay for confronting criminality in the Border area. Martin McGuinness's home was paint bombed; the house of two Sinn Féin councillors were petrol bombed his year; the car of another senior Sinn Féin member was petrol bombed; while three cars were petrol bombed in Derry city. The lives of senior Sinn Féin people are threatened on a regular basis. I have had security advice from An Garda Síochána about my movements in the past. That is the price we pay for confronting criminality along the Border and, therefore, we will not take lessons from any journalist with a political agenda about our commitment to standing by democratic principles and confronting criminality. It is time for people to put up or shut up or end the slurs of criminality against our party. I am taking the opportunity to set the record straight and to make that clear. From now on, slurs of criminality against my party will be confronted head on.

This is why I wrote to the Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan. I read an article in the Sunday Independentby Jim Cusack, who makes a career out of slurs against our party. He always talks about Garda sources but, on this occasion, he made the mistake of attributing his views to An Garda Síochána. He said: "Gardaí believe that the Provisional IRA retain their military structures and are involved in diesel laundering and other criminal activities". I sought clarification from the Garda press office because I did not believe that An Garda Síochána held that view, whatever about his so-called Garda sources that I do not believe exist, certainly according to anyone with credibility to whom I have spoken in the Border area. After a number of weeks, I appreciated the fact that the Garda Commissioner clarified the position. There was nothing she said in her letter to me that differs from the assessment of other policing services on this island, yet she was castigated for having the temerity to give an honest assessment about criminality on the island. She was almost bullied into clarifying her position further.

We have a situation where a handful of journalists with a long established political agenda - thankfully, it is only a small number of journalists, as the vast majority in this State are people of integrity who hold all of us, rightly, to account - thought they could bully a Garda Commissioner into backing down on her intelligence-based view versus their nonsense.The Minster also had to take some of this. I read the headlines attacking her for giving a balanced, reasoned view on matters that were developing. A tiny minority of journalists believe they can dictate to the Minister for justice and policing services of the day regarding the situation on the ground. I am sending a clear signal as the Sinn Féin justice spokesperson, on behalf of republicans across this island, that we will no longer take their slurs of criminality. If that is their agenda, they should put up the evidence, bring it to the appropriate authorities and let us see what happens. I have not seen evidence yet and I look forward to the day when it will be produced. Until then, I will let the people make their own assessment. I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.

The president of the Garda Representative Association described the position well regarding this Bill when he stated: "Legislation is always welcome but legislation requires enforcement and enforcement requires gardaí. The only deterrent that can be out there is more gardaí". inn Féin has repeatedly challenged the Government parties over their severe cuts to Garda numbers. While we welcome the renewed recruitment of recent times, the reality is that the additional numbers will merely counter-balance the loss of Garda personnel due to retirement. We need to get numbers back over the safe threshold of 14,000 and maintain that number through ongoing recruitment. Sinn Féin will continue to campaign on this.

The Government's austerity agenda has unfortunately enabled the environment in which crime has increased. It is not the only contributory factor but it is not doing anything to help. A lack of resources is well known to increase cases of theft and burglary. Similarly, misguided decisions to close Garda stations to make small savings for the Exchequer have increased the opportunity for criminal activity and added to the uncertainty and fear citizens are experiencing following seven years of an austerity agenda. As always, the poor, isolated and vulnerable have suffered most because of austerity and the legislation, while welcome, does not address the root causes of the increase in criminal activity and the negative social consequences of austerity. Our citizens want a criminal justice system in which they can have confidence and which addresses serial offenders, in particular, who are clearly a threat to our communities. However, a more holistic approach is needed. We need to examine the resourcing of our policing services on the island and, as Deputy Collins said, we also need to examine enlightened approaches such as a sentencing council, similar to that in place in England and Wales, restorative measures in our communities, community courts, and community service orders rather than incarceration strategies. We need to identify when young people move towards criminality and devote resources to assist them. We, therefore, have to undertake a range of measures. While the Bill is welcome, I had to take the opportunity to reassert our criticism of austerity measures and I hope the Garda can be given the numbers it needs to do its job over the coming years.

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