Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I commend Sinn Féin on the motion. This motion and its sentiment have been expressed many times in this House, including in the current Dáil, the previous Dáil and the Dáil before that. Unfortunately, we have yet to see any kind of serious action being taken on it at Government level.

I respect that the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is a new Minister in this portfolio. The Minister came in and in all sincerity she delivered that speech tonight, but there is really nothing new in it at all. I would have to refer to it as the same empty promises we have heard for years in this House. Irrespective of who the Minister is, I believe there is a mindset behind that, which probably comes from the Department and from senior people in different State agencies who simply do not understand this problem. Some of us have been raising this matter here until we are blue in the face. We just cannot understand why we cannot have action from Government.

For years it has been the case in my constituency and, I am sure, in many other constituencies, especially in urban constituencies, that the issue of quad bikes and scramblers is the single most common issue raised at residents' meetings. It is standard practice, be it at joint policing committees, residents' associations or safety forums, that the number one issue is the same: the law is being totally disregarded by the tolerance of the use of these very dangerous vehicles. Gardaí are left there to try to defend what they are doing, but they cannot. They know that they do not have the backing of the Department or their senior superiors in doing what they want to do. Public representatives, Deputies, and councillors, are left sitting at these meetings impotent and powerless. We have been listening to these complaints for years. We understand the nature of the complaints. We understand what has to be done.

There is no defence of the fact that the Government will not take action in this area. We have been here on umpteen occasions pleading with the Minister of the day to please do something. I am not holding the Minister, Deputy McEntee, responsible at this point because she is a new Minister, but the kind of stuff that was in her speech means nothing to people. We have been hearing this for years. I make a very earnest plea to her to listen to what Members of this House are saying and have been saying for donkey's years. There is a huge problem here and it is a very significant social problem. It is symptomatic of much deeper problems, and I agree with the points that have been made in that regard. That the establishment and official Ireland seems impotent and incapable of addressing this issue brings everybody into disrepute: the law, Government, public representatives and the Garda. The elements who are determined to drag areas down and to create the kind of lawlessness in which anti-social behaviour and much more serious crime can flourish are delighted with the neglect of this issue by the establishment. I plead with the Minister not to allow that neglect to continue.

We regularly have to stand up and say to people that we know and understand the problem, that we have raised it in the Dáil umpteen times, but that unfortunately nothing is being done. There is no defence of that. We put it to the Minister that she has a responsibility, as the Minister for Justice, to take the issue seriously and to listen to what people are saying. Members do not come in here and make up stories about this. We have been identifying this as a serious social problem for at least ten years. It is infuriating that the powers that be continue to ignore it.

The issue has posed a threat to life and limb for many years but it also causes that sense of devastation in many communities, working-class communities in the main. Let us be clear about this. If this problem was going on in middle-class areas, it would have been solved long ago. It is a terrible reflection on Government that when issues affect working-class communities, they do not rate the way middle-class issues rate. This is at the heart of the failure to address this problem.

The point has already been made that this is not something working-class communities want to continue. The vast majority living and working in working-class communities want this issue tackled. They are crying out for the authorities to deal with it. They are pleading with public representatives and with the Garda to tackle it. If the Garda is not empowered to step in and address this very pressing social problem, then it is inevitable that somebody else will sort it out. I put it to the Minister that she has a responsibility to take the appropriate action that is needed to address the issue.

Of course, local people in working-class communities are the most impacted by this issue. At certain times of year or in certain areas, young people and old people are afraid to leave their homes. They are afraid to go to parks and to use them. They are afraid to allow their children to go out and play in local housing estates because of the threat posed by the widespread use of quad bikes and scramblers.

Like most problems, it started very small. It was a tiny thing and we hardly noticed it when it began but because of the neglect of this issue, year on year, it has now gotten to a point where it is exceptionally hard to deal with. However, it desperately needs to be dealt with. It is all very well to talk about diverting young people into other activities and we need more funding for youth services and sports activities. There is nothing worse and more soul-destroying for football teams than arriving for a match or training on a Saturday morning and discovering that their pitch has been churned up by this kind of activity. There is nothing worse than parents who want to take their kids out to local parks to play being afraid to do so because of the imminent threat of someone coming along on one of these bikes and posing a danger to them. Deaths and serious injuries have been caused by these vehicles.

The Minister cannot continue to ignore this. We spent years begging her predecessors to establish an interagency forum, which was finally set up a number of years ago. We waited for meetings to be held and occasional quarterly meetings occurred. We were then told that a decision had been made that the law was strong enough and that the Attorney General had recommended that we did not need a new law. Meanwhile, we hear from gardaí in our constituencies that their hands are tied and that the law does not equip them to tackle this problem. It was only when we kept on raising that with the Garda and advised it to move it up the line to the Garda Commissioner that there was finally an admission that the law is not adequate in this area. Now we are waiting. Is there any possibility that we might get action on this or that the Minister will listen to what people are saying and produce the necessary legislation? The Garda's hands are tied as regards enforcing the law in parks and other public off-road places because the traffic legislation does not apply there. There is also a complete failure to enforce the law on tax, insurance and driver licences for people over 16 who are using these vehicles, not to mention those who are underage. A complete blind eye is being turned to this huge problem and it can only get worse if the necessary action is not taken. I am pleading with the Minister to take this issue seriously, unlike her predecessors, before more people are killed and more communities are alienated by the failure of the establishment to tackle this. I urge her to take action.

See this speech in context