Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We must ramp up our response to rural crime. The national statistics showing a reduction in burglaries and related offences do not reflect the situation in rural Ireland. The people of these communities feel isolated and forgotten. It is only a matter of time before we begin to see serious incidents of vigilantism occurring around the country. This is not an exaggeration. This is an old hobby horse of mine. I mention it often, as recently as last week, in the Dáil. There has been a failing by the Government to honour the commitment in the programme for Government to provide CCTV cameras at all major junctions leading to motorways. I heard that every time I raised the issue. I am not talking about the community-based CCTV grant aid scheme launched last April but the roll-out of a CCTV-based crime fighting system on our motorways which are being used by criminal gangs, which terrorise areas, to get in and out of communities. There are two motorways in Kilkenny which come from towns and cities, and gangs come in on them, commit robberies, and are gone half an hour later. We need CCTV camera systems on all junctions leading off our motorways to counteract this.

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