Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak on the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2021.

In a recent case, the Supreme Court found that while the Oireachtas can impose mandatory penalties for offences, it can only do so where those penalties apply to all persons equally. Specifically, the Oireachtas cannot create a mandatory penalty, which only applies to a particular class of persons, such as a person who has previously committed a particular offence. The Court held that under Article 34 of the Constitution, such a penalty may only be administered by the courts.

Consequently, the purpose of the Bill is to remove any instances in legislation where such a mandatory penalty occurs. If this Bill helps to prevent crime and save the public and members of the Garda from criminals, I will fully support it, as it is hard on the honest working people out there watching criminals getting away with crime that at the end of the day, the taxpayer must pay for.

We see cases of ordinary people being nabbed by a hidden speed van when they are going to work or taking their children to school in the morning. Whether this happens in Bandon or Schull, it is the same story and it has to stop. We should be concentrating our efforts on serious criminals, which is what this Bill stands for. The money-making racket of giving penalty points and issuing fines to those caught driving at 52 km/h or 53 km/h in a 50 km/h zone has to stop. It is most unfair on hardworking people. I also call into question where these hidden speed vans are parked, often on what appears to be private property. The practice must be investigated. Like my good colleague, Deputy Mattie McGrath, who spoke on the issue last week, I ask, what is the benefit of speed vans? Most of their work is done inside and around towns, where there are rich pickings.

The Garda is doing a good job in respect of dealing with hardened speeding drivers, whose behaviour be stamped out at all costs. However, the practice of chasing innocent parents who are bringing their children to and from school, and the hard-working man or woman going to work every morning, is most unfair. One man told me that his wife was caught twice recently in west Cork in the period of few days, by a speed van that was hidden inside another person's yard. He said that he will never co-operate with the law again, as he had done before, if he sees some wrongdoing. These vans are penny-wise and pound-foolish.

While I have the floor to discuss issues relating to criminal justice, I would like to talk about the gardaí, who, in fairness, do a great job in protecting our communities. They receive a lot of unfair criticism. I have been asked to raise the fact that members of the Garda have not been offered the Covid vaccine yet, for those who want it. It is unfair that they have not been prioritised. They work on the front line and were forced out there during the pandemic. It is unfair to think that now, when it is time to reward some of them with a very simple vaccination, they are not considered.

I also want to talk about local community gardaí and the lack of good community gardaí at present. There is a concentration of Garda members on the roadside and in the bigger Garda stations throughout the country. That started a few years ago when Garda stations were closed under a Fine Gael policy that was supported by Fianna Fáil. I saw it happening in my own community, when the Goleen, Adrigole, Ballinacarriga and Ballinspittle Garda stations were closed. We fought on this issue and one of the stations was subsequently reopened after a brave struggle by the people of Ballinspittle.

Someone was helping them, perhaps the statue of the Blessed Virgin. Whoever it was, the Garda station was reopened. It is the smallest privilege that every community should enjoy to have a local garda to nip crime in the bud. It is unfortunate that we moved away from that.

Crime is down at the moment because of the pandemic and the restrictions on movement and travel. It is great that this has happened and I hope it stays that way. In general, however, people in local communities that have lost their Garda station and their community gardaí are petrified. Those community gardaí did important work with young people. There is no one in here who can wear a halo. Everybody makes mistakes and people were lucky when the local garda knew them, spoke to them and nipped any criminal behaviour in the bud. It does not matter whether that happens in Drimoleague, Ballinadee, Drogheda or anywhere else. If there is a local garda working with the local people, he or she will nip that type of criminal activity in the bud. Unfortunately, we have lost that and we need to concentrate on getting it back.

I have been involved in community work down through the years and have seen what community alert and neighbourhood watch groups have done to help people, even if it is just a simple call to elderly people to prevent a crime in a home or, if they are alone or frightened, to ensure they can press a button and get help. Being on their own is the most frightening thing for many elderly people. We have to look at returning local gardaí to the community. Garda Brigid Hartnett in Bantry has carried out very good work there during the pandemic. I probably should not refer to individuals but I also must praise Garda Damian White, who was an outstanding community garda in Bantry and probably one of the finest gardaí in the country. He focused very clearly on working with people, young and old, in the community. He was miles above others in his team. Ian O'Callaghan and John McCarthy are other good community gardaí who worked to nip crime in the bud. I could be standing here forever naming gardaí who have worked very hard in their communities, when they were allowed to be stationed there. We fought alongside the people of Kilbrittain to keep Garda John McCarthy. There was some concern a number of years ago that he was going to be taken out of there. We fought bravely to ensure he remained to keep the people of Kilbrittain, Ballinadee, Ballinspittle, Timoleague and Barryroe safe in their homes. That is what gardaí should be doing. I would appreciate a refocusing to ensure that happens.

We have spoken in the House about CCTV and the need to make funds available to provide it. I was involved in a local community alert group in Schull that put together funds to install CCTV in the town. It provides great security to people there to have it in place. It is also in place in Mallow, Bantry and other towns, offering great security to the people living there. We always talk about dealing with criminals after the event. Perhaps we should concentrate on putting funds and efforts into deterring criminality before it happens. We can only do that by deploying more gardaí in communities, putting in CCTV, giving the gardaí better resources, including proper Garda vehicles, and reopening stations like the ones in Adrigole, Ballinacarriga and the many others that the Government decided to close a few years ago. It did so without any consultation with the local community, only dictation from the top.

I will be supporting this Bill as it moves forward. Its provisions will help to prevent crime and give suitable penalties to those who carry out very serious offences. We need to concentrate on the great work done by gardaí down through the years to help young people and nip crime in the bud. If there was a small amount of crime, it was dealt with locally and did not go beyond that. That is the focus we should have for our young people today. Every human makes a mistake but a good local garda will put a person in the right direction without being heavy-handed and getting others involved. That type of thing will never be forgotten by a young person. We need to use a bit of cop on in dealing with such issues.

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