Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. As Deputy Ó Laoghaire said, while we agree with the thrust of the motion, questions arise about some of its elements. Needless to say, rural crime is causing great concern and constant fear. Crimes are being committed on farms and businesses and against ordinary householders. It is not an exaggeration to state that unfortunately many people are living in fear in their homes. This is the first issue to be addressed.

As the Minister will be aware from our constituency, many people in the midlands, including counties Laois, Offaly and south County Kildare, are living in fear. This is horrendous and must change. More gardaí must be deployed to rural areas and all of us, whether members of the Government or Opposition or citizens, must wake up to the need to deal with rural crime. That the problem is widespread and a major issue in County Laois is evident in the local press, which features weekly reports on extensive crime being carried out across my constituency. Unfortunately, some crimes are not reported in the media because they are not reported to the Garda in the first instance.

A couple of weeks ago, the Minister claimed the number of burglaries in County Laois had declined. That statement is incorrect as the figure has increased by 60%. The most recent meeting of the joint policing committee, of which I am member, heard that 67 burglaries were reported in the third quarter of 2016 and the figure for the third quarter of 2017 soared to 106. I make this point to emphasise the need for further work to be done in this area. The 106 burglaries were committed in the period of July, August and September when it is still bright in the evening. If we extrapolate this figure to the entire year, we would have 424 burglaries in the county. It is safe to assume - it is a well known fact - that the number of burglaries tends to increase in the winter months.

Serious crime affects all parts of County Laois. Recently, in an unfortunate incident in Stradbally, 1 km of copper cable belonging to a company providing a service in the community was stolen and telephone wire was stolen in the Tinnahinch area. A stolen jeep being pursued by gardaí crashed in Clonaslee and people would have been killed if anyone had been on the street at the time. In another incident, shots were fired at gardaí by the occupants of a stolen car in Monasterevin. Countless burglaries have also taken place. The list goes on. The Garda is making some inroads, however, including a recent drugs find valued at approximately €1 million. This significant discovery shows the value of having the drugs squad up and running again, as Sinn Féin demanded at the joint policing committee for several years.

Behind all of these statistics, there are victims. The vulnerability experienced by people in rural areas after being burgled cannot be overstated. The invasion of privacy causes anxiety and fear which are impacting on people.

Specialist Garda units are needed. The superintendent in Laois-Offaly reported to us that one such unit is being re-established in the region. This unit will be highly effective because it will target travelling criminals who move at night from property to property as they target people. We need more specialist units. We have to get back to basics because one cannot beat community gardaí. While I acknowledge that we cannot have a garda at every crossroads, gardaí need to get to know people in their locality and people need to get to know the local gardaí. Close co-operation is needed.

I have seen the benefits of closed circuit television in Borris-in-Ossory and other areas. These systems have helped to solve serious crimes and significant criminals have been put out of business as a result of their effectiveness. The Data Protection Commissioner has raised questions regarding the increased use of CCTV systems. Someone should tell the commissioner to relax a little.

I ask the Minister to consider the use of restorative justice, which has been an effective tool in other countries. Judge Mary Martin was, I understand, involved in a pilot restorative justice project in County Tipperary. Under this model, the perpetrator pays full compensation to the victim over several years. He or she should repay every penny, even if it takes 30 or 40 years to do so. Restorative justice would save the State money because fewer people would be sent to prison and reoffending rates would decline. Another important aspect of restorative justice programmes is that they provide justice to victims and, most important, they force perpetrators to make good the crime they committed and the damage they have done to the victim. I ask the Minister to consider extending the use of restorative justice. I say this constructively because the concept is absent from our justice system. I would also like greater use of the community alert scheme and more co-operation with the Garda.

See this speech in context