Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to listen to our problems in rural Ireland, in places like Carlow-Kilkenny, where people are living in fear. The sense of fear among elderly and isolated members of rural communities, which is being caused by the significant rise in burglary offences, is a crucial issue facing rural Ireland. These people are being deliberately targeted, watched and attacked by a number of well-organised criminal gangs, which continue to terrorise rural townlands and villages. This is not a new issue as the number of burglary offences in the State has soared over the past three years, developing slowly while the outcry of victims has fallen on deaf ears.

Fianna Fáil supports this Bill, which aims to address the problem, and the Minister’s work in commencing the review of the criminal justice system’s response to the problem of burglaries is to be acknowledged. I support the provisions of the Bill which tackle repeat offenders who are granted bail, despite being charged with multiple burglaries, and who often commit further burglaries while out on bail. I also support the amendment to the Bail Act to provide that, for the purposes of bail applications, pending charges or recent convictions can be considered as evidence that an accused person is likely to commit further domestic burglaries.

I must be critical, however, of the length of time it has taken to bring this legislation to the House. This is a long-term problem which has developed insidiously in our rural communities over the last three, four and five years. I am also of the opinion that the Minister is underestimating the issue at hand. These are well-financed and well-organised criminal gangs which are expertly equipped with high-powered vehicles, weapons and even night-vision goggles to aid their escape at night.

Fianna Fáil has already published a Bill to introduce a mandatory three years in jail for criminals convicted of burglary and a minimum of seven years on the third burglary conviction within 12 months. I ask the Minister strongly to consider introducing such legislation as a matter of urgency because the deterrents are not currently strong enough to combat these criminal gangs from continuing their predatory pursuit of rural towns and villages.

A senior member of An Garda Síochána told me a number of years ago that the single greatest deterrent to crime is the garda on the beat.

The closure of 139 Garda stations by the coalition Government and the reduction of Garda numbers from 14,000 to 12,772 has been publicised as the reason that both urban and rural communities have been left vulnerable to burglary. I am not going to shout and roar about this, but the point I want to make is that, if we have less of a Garda presence and fewer Garda vehicles on the streets, we must legislate for stronger minimum sentencing to act as a crucial deterrent between dangerous criminals and the innocent people within our urban and rural communities.

The protection of our citizens is paramount. I will finish with an example of how bad the threat has become. I was contacted by the chairman of the Myshall community alert group, Carlow, who explained to me that on Thursday, 20 August 2015, the housekeeper of the parochial house in Myshall village answered the door to two males who entered the house and tied her up. This is the fourth time that this parochial house has been targeted in recent years and this outrage, along with numerous other incidents of burglary, robbery and vandalism in our community, resulted in an emergency meeting of the community alert group on 1 September 2015.

I am informed that it was a very heated meeting where residents spoke out giving vent to their anger and frustration. They made comments of the following nature: "We are living a nightmare and are afraid to answer the door at night. We block our gates with our cars. All our doors and windows are locked from the onset of darkness and there is total fear in the area”, or “These criminals know that they are less likely to be caught in rural areas because of the closure of rural Garda stations, low Garda resources and the lack of manpower”. These comments are just an example of the fear that exists among thousands of communities the Government must act to protect.

I compliment the Minister on bringing this much needed legislation to the Dáil. We on this side of the House will support it and will do anything we can to protect people in both rural and urban areas.

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