Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. There are many parts to it that I welcome. There is no doubt but that reoffenders have been getting away time and again. I welcome the moves to curtail this. I advocate the tightening up of the legal aid system in respect of people who reoffend two or three times. The system cannot continue dealing with reoffenders.

I listened to an inspector last night who was in Trim. I saw him on the television speaking and they talked about tagging. If we have to go down the road of curtailing the activities of those who are causing a lot of hassle right around the country, then so be it.

Sadly, communities in Tipperary, the west, Trim and elsewhere have had to come together to highlight this situation. For the last 17 or 18 years, fewer gardaí have been out on the beat. We know that Garda numbers have dropped and we also know about the problems that have arisen since Garda stations were closed. People may ask what use a local Garda station was, but local or community gardaí knew what was happening. Templemore should have a section to recruit and train local gardaí. Such gardaí liaised with every man, woman and child in an area. When they saw youngsters starting to get out of hand they would have a word in their ear. One could never put a price on what they prevented, and they always knew what was going on.

Let us be honest. No one leaves Dublin or Cork and heads to a destination saying, "I like the colour of that house. We'll go in and raid it." They are informed by what we call the crow on the wire, information that is being passed on. At one time, however, gardaí based in a local station knew what was happening in their area. I am not talking about a garda doing any paperwork in a station, because that argument will continue; I am talking about someone who is available to work with the community and who knows the area.

Criminality has reached new heights in different areas. Some time ago, it might have entailed robbing a house, but now cattle and other items are being taken. It is said that it is more difficult now that we have motorways, but that is not so. When I was a youngster in the west, I remember there was a Garda presence on the four or five bridges crossing the Shannon at night during the dark hours. That was all that was needed and it prevented so much crime.

We have to plan for the future. Before 1996, 1,000 gardaí were taken on per year. In time to come 1,000 gardaí will be entitled to retire, but we are not planning for that, given the numbers we are recruiting. We are not planning for what will happen ten or 15 years down the road if we do not put feet on the ground. There is a simple solution to this. Retired gardaí who policed the countryside down through the years should form a group to talk to serving gardaí. They could thus explain to them how it was done. Such retired gardaí are willing to help and may also be helpful to the Minister. Sometimes one has to take a step back in order to move forward in this country.

In fairness, the Minister has done some good things in the Bill. I have spoken to gardaí about the new high-powered cars, however, and one cannot drive the Q7 Audis or BMWs unless one is a member of the rapid response unit. An ordinary traffic corps Garda cannot drive them, although they currently drive squad cars. Therefore, this will not happen for a few years, because a Garda cannot automatically be made a rapid response operator overnight. That issue has to be addressed. In addition, the traffic corps cannot even use a stinger. We may need to look at these matters, and I would encourage the Minister to consider using some of the retired gardaí who knew how to talk to people. Currently, however, we have policing from a distance. In my area at night one squad car could be covering 40 miles. It is not the fault of the gardaí. The reality is that burglars are cute enough to send a Garda car on a decoy route, while they could be somewhere else.

I ask the Minister to examine this new idea of mine involving local gardaí. I am not saying that they must be out on the beat, but they can be with communities, getting to know everyone and liaising with them. They were a mine of information and no one could ever put a price on what they saved the country from because they prevented incidents before they happened.

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