Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak on this Bill. I want to send my good wishes to the Minister for Justice.

Looking at the Bill and listening to the Minister of State, when the European masters want something done, we jump. They say jump and we ask how high. However, there is much legislation languishing in the bowels of the Department of Justice that has not been implemented. The Minister of State is new and I wish him well. I often worked and debated with his father, who I also wish well.

This legislation is necessary. Any way we can stop fraud or crime is important. I support Deputy Denis Naughten's amendment. I compliment him and his group. I also compliment Deputy Tóibín and the other Members involved on bringing forward a Bill to deal with the theft of our canine friends. It has become mean, low and a difficult trauma for many families, especially during lockdown. There are gangs going around putting cable ties on gates in order to highlight the number of dogs that could be stolen from particular premises by the next crowd to come along. Now they have different colour codes for different types of dogs. This practice is sinister and very organised. It must also be very profitable.

I hope the Government will accede to the amendment. It should not be classed as the theft of property, of which we have thousands every day of the week. It is the theft of something very special. One just has to think of "One Man and His Dog". I love the sheep dogs and to see them working the sheep. There are dogs for autistic children and dogs for the blind. The bond built between a dog and their owner is just phenomenal. Many of them have been trained. I salute the groups and charities involved in the training these dogs. There is a huge demand for these dogs for autistic children now more so than ever when the schools are dúnta and special needs classes are not taking place. I hope the Government will accept this amendment.

The European Commission has recommended two courses of action in this area, one of which is primary legislation. We are crying out for legislation. Today, I raised with the Taoiseach the introduction of legislation to put some manners on utility companies. These companies are fleecing people.

They gave an eight-week moratorium to people with regard to standing charges. I have been inundated all afternoon with calls from big and small companies about legislation. We can bring in emergency legislation. In the middle of a pandemic we can bring in this Bill, which is interesting to my mind. It would require a simple short emergency Bill so that utility companies could not charge people when their businesses are closed.

Today, the Taoiseach told me the Government did not close premises but that it was the virus. That is a new element of spin. We are gone completely now. It was an act of this House. It was something I voted for at the start, as we all did. I heard the Leas-Cheann Comhairle being very rigorous in her questioning and rightly so and she was well able to do it. By our acts here we closed the House and gave the Minister for Health inordinate powers to do what he liked. Then the Taoiseach stood up today and said what he did. Some one needs to pinch him and see whether he is in the real world. Previously, he said we had no bank bailout. It is the Government. He blamed the HSE for closing St Brigid's hospital in Carrick-on-Siur. He passes on the blame. He is the Taoiseach. For a while he was confused with the Tánaiste. Which was which? Was it the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste or the Tánaiste or the Taoiseach? Who was the Taoiseach? Who was the Tánaiste? At this stage, he should know he is the boss and the buck stops with him. Legislation is passed in the House to delegate roles to Ministers and there is collective Cabinet responsibility.

I introduced a scrap and precious metal Bill twice, once before the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's time and once during her time. It is very important legislation. Today, precious protected buildings are being stripped of their lead. Georgian buildings in Dublin are being stripped of their door knockers. Worse than this, telecommunications lines are stolen. We almost had major fatalities in Limerick Junction because of copper wire being stolen for a kilometre outside of the station. But for the swift action of Iarnród Éireann employees there would have been head-on collisions. The first Bill was rubbished by the then Minister, Alan Shatter. We amended it and brought it back but it was not accepted. It involved a few simple measures such as traceability, whereby anybody buying or selling scrap metal had to have a PPS number and the item had to be held for a specified period so the Garda could find it. It went back to gold and silver and PPS numbers. It would have been very lucrative for the Exchequer's coffers but there would also have been traceability and time for An Garda Síochána to deal with issues. It was rubbished and we could not act on it. Now we can act on this because Europe wants us to do so. Other countries did act in the area of metal. There is also the theft of farm buildings, farm machinery and farm equipment. House owners also have valuable items taken from them. There is the vast reservoir of artefacts. Some of the precious artefacts were on motorways, where artistic sculptures were sawn down with a gas torch at night and taken away. They stopped at nothing. They took the lead from the roofs of churches. We did not deal with this.

There are many issues we have not dealt with and white-collar crime is a big one. It is a huge issue. We can see it going on and we can see that the regulators in many areas are not dealing with these issues. We have seen whistleblowers being vilified in the past. Next week, the Prison Service will hold interviews and I have been contacted by concerned people about the interview process and the make-up of the boards. I have had no response. It seems to be the Wild West and they can do what they want.

I missed the debate on GSOC and I am sorry. The Ceann Comhairle told me he would allow me to say something on it in this debate because of the lack of backbenchers who did not show up. We cannot watch a debate and it finished early. It is impossible. They want time taken from Independent Deputies but they will not turn up for the debate. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has a nice name and it certainly does some good work but it needs to be revamped and there needs to be a refocus. I want every Garda to be held accountable as some have not been very accountable in the past. I have had issues with a Garda station in Dungarvan, County Waterford. They need to be held to account. I have often been contacted by gardaí, some of whom are now retired, who were caught in accidents and did not have a squad car or a squad van. Some Deputies mentioned the lack of resources. GSOC investigators could land in a field in a helicopter. Where a member of An Garda Síochána, on or off duty, is involved in an accident, GSOC has those powers. That is extraordinary.

Recently, we saw a case where GSOC took a garda to the courts and the judge lambasted it and rightly so. The garda was doing his duty and the next thing GSOC brought him all the way to the courts and vilified him. He was cleared, thankfully, and GSOC was admonished by the judge. We need a review. We set up these bodies, most of which are quangos. They have boards, and today we appointed two new members to the board of GSOC. I do not know who they are or what they are and more power to them. There has to be accountability and there has to be a comeback and some respect for the law of the land.

Some of these quangos get in and they just seem to be there. The Road Safety Authority, RSA is one of them. It just does what it likes with regard to licences and tests. There is pure blackguarding of ordinary citizens. There seems to be no accountability. I do not see the chair of the RSA board on the television complaining about the testing. The test centre in Clonmel in Tipperary is the Wild West. Young people are being penalised unfairly. Yesterday morning. four tests were cancelled because of the frost, despite the fact driving instructors were able to drive, the testers drove to work and the people drove with their parents, who took a day off work in these hard times to bring their child. Then, at 2 p.m. one of the testers decided he or she was sick and went home and left people with appointments for which they had waited months. They had spent a fortune on lessons with very good tutors. This is blackguarding of the highest order. It is driving people to the brink and could drive young people over the top. They try to do a test two or three times but get blackguarded like this. It is not acceptable and there is no redress and nowhere to go.

There are many areas of legislation the Minister of State could look at during his career. We do not have to wait until the high masters in Europe tell us what they want. We are wonderful Europeans. There are many elements of European law the Government will not introduce because they would suit Irish citizens. It is time that we served the people whom we are elected to serve and left our masters wait. When we wanted a bailout, we got little support and solace. There are many areas in the Department of Justice. I could go on for an hour but I will not. I gallantly tried twice to introduce the scrap and precious metal Bill and it was the same with the sulky racing Bill. There are murky industries that we do not want to touch and we dance around them.

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