Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome this opportunity to speak about the major issue of crime. Crime is a major issue that comes up constantly, as I meet people on a regular basis. It does not just involve the volume of recorded offences but the number of offences that go unrecorded and unreported. The fear of crime is very high in communities, particularly in more rural communities. There is a real sense that law and order was not a priority for the previous Government. A strong community is a safe community. Keeping homes and streets safe is a core priority for our party.

The confidence and supply arrangement that Fianna Fáil has agreed with Fine Gael provides for an increase in Garda numbers to 15,000, investment in CCTV and a mandate for the Policing Authority to oversee a review of Garda stations. I know this has already been stated today, but it is very important to get the message out there loud and clear. There will be more gardaí. That is what people want and it is what is needed.

The closure of 139 Garda stations and the potential threat to the future of other small stations throughout Ireland was the wrong policy, as it jeopardised the security of countless communities and homes. That policy was pursued by the last Government and it did not work. Communities miss the familiarity of the local garda on the beat and the familiarity of popping into the local Garda station, and gardaí miss the local knowledge built up over years through communication with the local community. The decision to extinguish the blue light of the local station sent a clear message to criminals that resulted in a wave of burglaries hitting cities, towns and villages around the country. The paltry savings from the closures did not justify the deeply damaging impact on the communities they served. The last Government closed 139 Garda stations around the country, including Stradbally and Ballyduff Upper in my own constituency of Waterford. The stations in Portlaw, Ballymacarbry, Kill, Kilmeaden, Lemybrien and Rathgormack are unmanned. Overall Garda numbers fell in Waterford from 302 in December 2010 to 282 in December 2015, which represents a loss of 20 gardaí. That may not sound like a lot, but such a loss has a detrimental impact on these communities. Fianna Fáil believes that there should be a Garda Inspectorate report on the 139 station closures nationwide to gauge the impact of the closures and make recommendations on whether these stations should be reopened, or, where the building has been sold, a new station established. The report should be completed and recommendations presented to this House and implemented within 12 months.

Communities have not sat back. In many areas community alert systems have been set up, and these are very effective. In collaboration with local gardaí, a text alert system has been set up whereby local information is fed to the 24-hour manned Garda station in the area. Any information received is checked and, if correct, is then sent via text message to locals, who can be alerted about any situation and can be the eyes and ears on the ground. I thank the community liaison gardaí who are setting up this initiative throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Strong community relations are the bedrock of an effective police force. However, the imbalance in community gardaí across the country is damaging local links with the force. We need to cover all Garda districts to ensure that a community Garda is based in each area with strong links to the local community. Fianna Fáil would use some of the agreed boost of 3,000 gardaí resulting from recruitment and organisational changes to increase the number of community gardaí by 200 to ensure all areas are sufficiently covered. This would certainly be a move in the right direction.

Fianna Fáil believes there is a need for tougher sentences for those guilty of particularly despicable crimes. Following a number of serious crimes and attacks, it is important that rampant criminals are sent a strong and clear message that attacks on older and vulnerable people and indeed on any person will not be tolerated and will be severely punished. We need new thinking and new ideas, and I feel it would be well worth looking at the community court structure, which seems to work very well in the US and the UK. International experience drawn from these countries indicates that community courts can reduce reoffending and help ensure that communities that suffer from crime receive redress. These courts bring persons charged with low-level crimes to justice in the area where the incidents occurred, thereby producing greater efficiency, visibility and accountability. They also improve public safety. It has been proved that this method can break the cycle of reoffending by addressing the problems, addictions, mental illnesses or lack of job skills of some low-level offenders. Starting on a pilot basis, we should initiate a system of community courts that would be neighbourhood-focused and would specifically address problems of particular communities by targeting quality-of-life crimes such as drug possession, public order offences, petty theft, prostitution and vandalism. This could be very successful and is well worth considering by the Minister for Justice and Equality in the Thirty-second Dáil.

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