Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak this evening on the Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill 2015. In doing so, I recognise that our criminal justice system is built on principles such as deterrence and punishment and the idea that people are deemed innocent until proven guilty. That is why we have bail provisions in the first place. This Bill makes two basic provisions, namely, that in granting bail in a domestic burglary case, the existence of certain circumstances must be considered as evidence that a person will commit subsequent burglaries and that prison sentences must run consecutively with sentences imposed for prior domestic burglary offences in certain circumstances. I would also submit a third provision, that where a person who is charged with a domestic burglary and had previously been convicted of a domestic burglary is granted bail, he or she would be electronically tagged.

The provisions of this Bill, along with other Acts and Bills we have passed in the past few months, will mean more people will serve greater prison time and more resources will be used. However, I do not believe, for example, that prisons are the appropriate place for people who do not pay court-imposed fines. If a judge initially felt that a fine was the appropriate penalty, he or she would not have imposed anything else. It is simply unreasonable and abhorrent that those who are hit with fines eventually find themselves in prison. I fully support the legislation providing for attachment orders to wages and, if necessary, to social protection payments, as a sufficient deterrent in these situations. In the recent debate on rural crime and crime in general, a few facts have been lost. Ireland, by international standards, is a very safe place to live, work and visit. Rural Ireland, by national and international standards, is one of the safest places in the world in which to live, work and visit. That is not to undermine the great fear that exists in rural Ireland. This fear is matched by an irrational appetite in some quarters for unnecessary scaremongering. To quote Shakespeare's Macbeth, "present fears are less than horrible imaginings". Some people in the countryside are paralysed, not by crime, but by the fear of crime, which is, in many cases, greater than it would be if they were ever exposed to a crime.

The home enjoys a very special constitutional status, but the problem here is that home burglaries are treated in the exact same way as other thefts, despite the fact that they are among the most traumatic events a person can experience. It is not to equate or compare crimes. If a person's home is burgled, he or she does not really care about the penalties, the debate or the palaver about other crimes. That is one of the most traumatic experiences anyone can have and it should be dealt with appropriately. A domestic burglary should be dealt with differently from other thefts, particularly thefts from commercial premises, or other petty crime.

We have heard in recent weeks a lot of scaremongering, pointing out the obvious, and facts and figures, but very few solutions. There has been very little debate on what has been done. New gardaí are being recruited, Templemore is almost at capacity and new vehicles are being introduced. These and other initiatives which, to my knowledge, have not been mentioned, will be hugely effective in combatting rural crime.

These are simple and efficient methods and include, for example, the community alert system. I particularly compliment the crime prevention officers of An Garda Síochána in my area and pay special tribute to Sergeant Ian O'Callaghan of the west Cork division who set up a Beara business watch where any suspicious activity is immediately circulated by text alert to businesses and residences, not to engage in vigilantism but merely to be informed. If people see suspicious activity, the gardaí are the appropriate people to deal with it, if they are aware of it.

A number of American police forces and police in Sheffield in the United Kingdom have been trying a new method of predicting crime by recording details of crime, collating this information and detecting patterns to allocate resources more efficiently to combat possible future events. It sounds out of this world but it works. These pilot projects have had significant results. Will the Minister and her officials communicate this to the Garda to see whether it could replicate this initiative?

Everyone carries a mobile phone or a smart phone and most of us can install software. For example, when one's phone is stolen, no matter what is done with it, one can find it. However, we have not yet figured this out for cars. I have tabled it as a Topical Issue when I will speak about it in more detail but I want to make one point. In regard to rural crime, I do not know of any situation where criminals go to Tipperary, Leitrim, Wexford or Kerry in their own cars. Typically, they travel in stolen cars. We have simple technology to detect stolen or lost phones but we cannot deter potential car thieves from stealing cars. Will the Minister and the Department of Justice and Equality engage with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to immediately begin to roll out an initiative where cars can have a hardware device installed in them to inhibit the practice of stealing them? Cars are stolen for two reasons - for the value of the car and to commit crime. If we cut off that essential part of the crime chain, we will have done something significant to combat crime not only in the towns and cities but, more important, in rural areas. That, together with effective CCTV investment, will deal a strong blow against the criminals who roam the countryside.

There are things we can do. I suggest to those who shout the loudest from podiums that rural Ireland is a dangerous place that they reflect on the damage they are doing and on the fear they are generating and start to reflect instead on the simple solutions that they, if they are as committed or as expert as they say, could bring to the table. I am sure we can all work in partnership to deal with this issue and ensure rural Ireland continues to be the safest place in the world to live.

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