Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this issue. I will break from my Kerry colleague’s approach and will not blame God for crime in this country. I will speak about matters that would be helpful to policing and how we can tackle the problems society faces.

I welcome the various contributions made by Members, both in terms of proposals on prevention and cure. Society must take a double-edged approach to this broad issue. In the context of prevention we should not underestimate the importance of the eradication of poverty, the creation of extra jobs and putting supports in place in communities. At the same time, the State must respond with an adequate policing service and a justice system that punishes people according to the seriousness of their crimes. We recently witnessed a new level of ruthlessness in this country and the State must react with a level of ruthlessness as well. The State has not adequately reacted and we must do more to meet the challenges head on.

I wish to refer to policing in rural communities. I made a suggestion in the previous Dáil that needs to be followed up, namely, the protection of isolated communities, in particular, by means of modern technology such as CCTV in strategic locations. I live on the Dingle Peninsula, which is accessible via two main arteries. We must protect the approximately 10,000 people who live there with measures such as CCTV at the two points which a person entering or leaving the area by vehicle must pass. There are many other locations throughout the country where, in terms of logistics, similar steps could be taken. Small modifications such as the one outlined do not cost the earth but they offer a great deal of protection to people and provide great peace of mind. We must be more practical in terms of how we respond.

The reality is that we need more gardaí. It is as simple as that. At present, we are playing catch-up. We could talk about the reasons for that such as the closure of Templemore but we must focus on strengthening the force and getting more gardaí onto the streets and freed up from desk duty. We must pay gardaí more. We are not paying them enough for the job they do, particularly new entrants. There are always arguments for paying public servants more but this is an exceptional case. There is no other profession in this country where one leaves one’s home in the morning and one is seen as a legitimate target by many. Those people who see gardaí as legitimate targets are the scum of society. They are the ones of whom I said earlier that the State needs to respond with the same level of ruthlessness they employ against innocent people. Those gardaí who are on the streets are being paid relatively little for the job they do and they need to get more. It is as simple as that. Thankfully, we are in a better financial situation as a country today and we must prioritise the gardaí in terms of pay.

In the previous Dáil I introduced the Ramming of Garda Vehicles Bill, the purpose of which was to protect members of An Garda Síochána in the context of the many instances where the marked and unmarked vehicles they use in the performance of their duties are rammed. The Bill must be followed up and enacted because ramming of Garda vehicles happens far too often and too many gardaí are being injured. We have had cases in the past where the outcomes were even more serious. I would like this Dáil to make it a priority to try to provide more of a deterrent and introduce serious punishment for those who think it is acceptable to ram a Garda vehicle. That is something which could be achieved. It is a small cog in a very big wheel in terms of what needs to be done but we must take an all-party approach to address the issue.

Those are my thoughts in brief. Five minutes is very little time to speak on such an issue. One can only touch on a very narrow range of matters. Some of the suggestions made in the House today were helpful and I hope the Government will implement many of them.

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