Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate. We, as a society, cannot tolerate or condone crime by juveniles or others, especially serious crimes involving robbing or beating up elderly people. There is a case here of one rape; that is not to be tolerated. We cannot accept those kinds of things. People may criticise the Garda for not prosecuting these crimes, but gardaí are doing their level best. We must go forward; we cannot keep going backwards all the time.

Social farming is a great initiative is being offered in Kerry for people with disabilities. It is being operated by South Kerry Development Partnership, involving especially Joseph McCrohan, Noel Spillane, George Kelly and Eamon Horgan in Kilgarvan. Many youngsters are brought up in an environment with no connection to nature and animals, and are not aware of how little there is between something being alive or dead. My uncle used to say there is only the breadth of one nail between being dead and alive. This is a great initiative where people with disabilities are taken out to farms and get to see nature. They see sheep having lambs, cows having calves, and horses and donkeys having foals.

While I am not saying assaults are minor, where minor crimes are being committed, perhaps these youngsters should be taken out to see nature and understand what it takes to survive or stay alive and then maybe we would not see many of the serious assaults we are seeing today, some of which even involving people ending up dead. It is a great new initiative that has not yet been delivered in other parts of the country. The Government should explore it to see what could be done to get youngsters out of a routine of violence and hatred. It could play a vital role in changing their attitudes.

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