Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to speak on this important Bill in light of the recent discussion on crime in rural and urban areas. The legislation is designed to keep repeat burglars off the streets and improve the safety of communities by providing for the refusal of bail and tougher sentencing for repeat home burglars. Gardaí have expressed much frustration over the years about the revolving door attitude that has prevented crime from being addressed. The two new measures on bail and sentencing should go some way towards eliminating crime in our communities.

We have heard a great deal about crime in recent weeks and months. It was interesting to note that statistics published in recent weeks showed that crime levels are higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Without seeking to diminish the importance of crime, we must provide balance in this debate and avoid painting a picture of rural areas as a kind of wild west of old where people are no longer safe. Crime has always occurred in rural and urban areas and it is important not to get carried away when discussing the issue.

Unfortunately, no one is immune from crime and all of us will know someone who has been a victim of crimes such as burglary. We must step up a level in tackling the problem. Technology has changed and criminals have become more literate, as it were, in information technology. They also have access to faster, more powerful vehicles, which creates a different environment for the Garda when tackling crime. For this reason, a new approach is required.

In recent years, we have heard a great deal about the closure of Garda stations, especially in rural areas. Bricks and mortar are no good for tackling crime. We need a Garda presence on the ground.

There is no point in someone ringing a Garda station at 2 a.m. having been a victim of crime if no one is there. That will not help the person to sort out the issue. Unfortunately, in most places where there is a rural Garda station, it may only be open for one or two hours every week or every fortnight. That is of no value whatsoever. The real need is for a greater presence on the ground which is to say more gardaí on the ground as we had 20 or 30 years ago. We need a different approach.

We have seen the reopening of Templemore. I agree with Deputy Willie Penrose who spoke earlier about Templemore. Closing it was a very retrograde step as we are now playing catch up and it will take a while to get back to the numbers we had. It is important to keep reinvesting in gardaí because we need more of them on the ground. In the past, the garda was part of his community. He lived in the community and got involved in the GAA club, soccer club or community association. Now, he may come 15 or 20 miles from his home as part of a job rather than being part of the community. The old joke in times gone by was that if a garda was moved to some far-flung place, it was as penance for something he may or may not have done. He would have to move lock, stock and barrel whereas now he simply comes to do his job and does not get involved in the community as much as a garda did previously. That is a disadvantage. Being involved in the community, be it through the GAA or soccer club, he was able to hear exactly what was going on. He could go to the local pub for a drink with colleagues or friends and hear what was going on. That acted as a deterrent. A garda could build up a stockpile of important information in that way.

Another important matter has been the development in my area and many others of Muintir na Tíre, the community text alert system, which has been very effective and should not be underestimated. It is something we could develop more. I agree with Deputy Penrose again that finance needs to go to this area if at all possible from the national pot. My county, Carlow, is a relatively small one and it has 32 different community text alert areas. That is very important. They are all up and running. Not only does it create a deterrent to criminals, it binds communities together. During the Celtic tiger years, people would get up for work in the morning when it was dark and not come home until it was dark in the evening. Generally speaking, they did not know their neighbours. Now, they are more concerned about that. They are getting involved in their communities and watching out for one another, which did not happen in the so-called Celtic tiger years. We need to move to the next stage with the community alert system. Community alert areas must be joined up so that neighbouring parishes or communities can communicate with each other to let them know if an issue is happening in their area. The community alert system must also connect adjoining counties because we are dealing with very mobile criminal groups who can travel across several counties in one night or day. It is, therefore, important to be able to contact one another all the time.

The new chief superintendent in the Carlow-Kilkenny division has introduced Operation Storm, which has been very effective. He gets all the resources of the division in certain areas every so often so that there is a large presence of gardaí in different towns in the community on a regular basis. It acts as a deterrent and is very welcome. Operation Storm is very effective, but it needs to move on to the next level. We need to see more investment in CCTV cameras on motorways and in towns. It can be very helpful in the ongoing battle against criminals that gardaí know but must be able to catch in the act. That is something we should consider going forward.

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