Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The question I asked was whether the Government acknowledges the growing sense of anxiety and concern among people with regard to increasing levels of crime and antisocial behaviour, and the growing and open illicit drug culture on our streets. That is the key point. The Minister has not answered that basic question. I have knocked on many doors, including with Councillor Shane Moynihan last night. Everywhere we go people say this. They do not see a visible Garda presence on the streets. We know An Garda Síochána is stretched. Gardaí have said that they have not had the necessary resources in the Border area.

A teenager died in May after being stabbed in Finsbury Park in Dundrum. In June, a 34 year old Latvian mother of three was stabbed to death in her apartment and a homeless man was killed close to the GPO. Another homeless man was killed in Cork in September. In July, a 45 year old man was killed in the North Strand area after a row and a 19 year old man was hospitalised after being stabbed in Crumlin. I could go on. Irish Rail says that there have been 789 reports of antisocial behaviour on its services.

When talking to people, statistics such as those the Minister articulated do not really reflect the public's sense of the situation. People believe there is a growing lawlessness about the place, that this is openly tolerated and that there is a lack of enforcement and cut-through to stop this kind of behaviour from increasing.

I asked the Minister a specific question about updating the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 to deal with people being incited to riot and loot via social media. It is needed to counteract the type of thing that happened in Cork some weeks ago.

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