Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. First, I wish to praise the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and her Department for bringing the Bill before the House and to record my full support for the Bill.

The Bill is designed to keep repeat burglars off our streets and to improve the safety of all our communities. I wholeheartedly agree with the Minister that the burglary of a person's home is a heinous and traumatic crime. A large number of domestic burglaries are carried out by serial offenders and this Bill targets those repeat burglars. I was shocked to learn that 75% of all burglaries are carried out by only 25% of burglars. This is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. The Bill will target those repeat offenders and will reduce significantly the number of burglaries committed.

The Bill contains two main provisions. First, it will require a court to impose custodial sentences consecutively where the offender has committed multiple burglary offences within a 12 month period. Second, it provides that in the case of bail applications, previous convictions for domestic burglaries, along with pending charges, shall be considered as evidence that the accused is likely to commit further domestic burglaries. In addition to the new legislation, I am pleased that the Minister has recently allocated an additional €700,000 to An Garda Síochána for the purchase of specialist vehicles which will support gardaí in tackling highly mobile criminal gangs, including those involved in burglaries.

It is right to put on record this Government's commitment to tackling crime. This commitment is being backed up with real investment in the services that need it most. We are recruiting more gardaí and, last September, we re-opened the Garda College to facilitate that.

This college was closed in 2009 as a result of Fianna Fáil’s catastrophic mismanagement of the economy. To date, 400 new gardaí have started their training, with the first 295 having already passed out and now working in communities nationwide. Some 150 more recruits will enter the Garda college next month, giving a total of 550 new recruits from September 2014 to September 2015. The Government is committed to recruiting at least 500 new gardaí each year and has pledged that the Garda college will not close again.

Some €29 million has been invested in new Garda vehicles since 2012 and a further €46 million has been committed for the next five years. Approximately 70 new Garda vehicles have come on stream since the start of this year alone. In the recently announced capital plan for 2016-21, the Minister confirmed an unprecedented allocation of €875 million in capital funding along with approval for further public private partnership projects in respect of the Garda Síochána and the Courts Service. While I welcome the new announcements in funding, we have to do more. More than ever, we need to provide more resources for our gardaí.

I met recently with gardaí from the Dundalk region. While they recognise the Government is providing more funding, they very strongly made the point that more resources are badly needed. In this regard, it is particularly pleasing that the Garda Commissioner recently estimated there are 61,000 more man-hours available for front-line Garda patrols following reforms to the delivery of rural policing.

In Dundalk this week we unfortunately witnessed a brutal murder that has left the local community in shock. Martin Mulligan, a 53 year old taxi driver, was murdered in a senseless act in the early hours of Monday morning while going about his work. Martin, who was married to Gráinne, had two daughters, Sharon and Shauna. He was a highly respected member of the Point Road community. I knew Martin through his involvement with his local GAA club, the Sean O’Mahoneys. He was an absolute gentleman. He was a hard working and honest person who was highly regarded by all who knew him. He will be sadly missed by his family and the community at large. This murder was a senseless act and we must do all we can to help the Garda bring the perpetrators to justice. Gardaí have requested that anyone with information contact them on 042 9388400 or on the Garda confidential line at 1800 666 111. I appeal to anyone with any information to contact the Garda as soon as possible. This senseless murder must not go unpunished and those responsible must be brought to justice and pay for this cowardly act.

To conclude, I want to put on record that I fully support the Bill before the House and the great work being done by the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and her Department. However, I appeal that even more resources be made available to gardaí, particularly in the north-east region, to help them combat crime in this country and to make it a safer place for all our citizens.

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