Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will avail of my few minutes to support what my colleague has brought before the House this evening. It is very relevant, important and well thought out.

Moreover, it is something that the electorate and the people have been calling for now for some time, indeed, for some years. The fact that this Dáil is prepared to tackle the issue and to do so in the correct way will be welcomed by many. I hope the House will see its way to support this particular legislation.

The Bill is a serious attempt to address, once and for, all the situation of reoffenders. Members of the public are watching this and they see it. They will tell us of the recurring scenario whereby people who reoffend seem to get bail easily. That has to stop. We must have more respect for the victims of crime. Many people believe that the victim is twice a victim because the State does not deal with some of these reoffenders. A total of 26,000 crimes, including 6,214 thefts and 1,377 burglaries, were committed in 2016. It can be seen from these figures that in many of these cases a considerable percentage of the perpetrators reoffend. I imagine the figures for 2017 are not much better.

The Government cry will be that crime levels have fallen. I have raised the matter in the Dáil previously. A considerable number of people, especially in rural Ireland, will not report minor crimes any more. Only recently, a man who had some tools taken from his farmyard said he did not bother to report the incident. The point he made to me was that the offenders get out on bail time after time. I urge everyone to report every crime, no matter how small. It is important that victims report crimes. This victim made the point to me - many others have made the point to me as well – that a situation arises whereby these people continuously get bail.

I have long said that none of the Garda stations should ever have been closed. The amount of money that has been saved is so small. The fact that a village or town has a Garda station, even though it is not manned 24-7 or even eight or ten hours per day, is a help. The fact that gardaí are back and forth to the station and that there is a Garda sign in the town or village is something of a deterrent. There was a Garda station in my village of Termonbarry on the N5 national primary route. The River Shannon runs by it and the N5 is a major route. The Garda station was closed. It should never have been closed. Given that we are looking at all this legislation, I urge the Minister to reopen virtually all of the Garda stations that were closed.

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