Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, when a murder happens, for too many people it is just something they see on the news and there is not really the horror or disgust that should happen when somebody’s life is lost in a particular location or address. It is something that people might raise their eyebrows at; they might see it on the news and move on. If you live in, work in or care about a community where a murder takes place, the consequences are devastating. The idea that a child going to school should get used to Garda tape being around a murder scene would fill any of us with horror but far too many of our children, in many of our constituencies, get used to going to school passing by a scene of a murder. What happens after that is that teachers in schools and community and youth workers have to deal with the consequences of that murder: the relatives who are justifiably upset, the funeral and the tension around that and the psychological impact that has on the entire community. Then there is the feeling of why is this perceived to be so normal. Where is the outrage from wider society that someone has just been shot dead in their area? Sometimes it might have been at the heart of a feud. Many of us have worked through those scenarios. I remember being a schoolteacher when there was a murderous feud in the area where I was proud to serve as a teacher and as a local representative. There was a 24-hour armed Garda presence on the street. You begin to wonder why it is perceived to be normal or permissible and why anywhere else in this country it just would not be allowed to happen.

It has been said that the term “gangland” has become almost acceptable. It is almost common usage. It is a victim-blaming approach. It says: this is what they do; sure, they are only killing each other. Their lives are just not as important. If such a murder or killing takes place in an area that we might describe as “gangland”, then that is just not as important as anywhere else in the State. I know what it is like to go to those funerals and what it is like to deal with those children who have to deal with the after-effects of losing somebody they love to violence. If you lose somebody you love to violence, it is not something you can ever really get over.

Why is it that so many people are attracted to this lifestyle? We can all come in here and make speeches about Garda numbers and more law and justice measures, but why is it that so many young people in particular, and especially so many young men, are eager to take the place of somebody who has just been shot dead? The reason is that it is lucrative and glamorous, you do not need a qualification to enter into the business and you get respect. Far too many people in these communities do not get respect. They do not feel respect from society, the media, politics, the gardaí or the teaching profession. They do not feel fundamentally that they are equal and respected or that if they try to maximise their potential in the mainstream economy and society, they will get as far. The statistics will probably show that they are right. Meanwhile there is a parallel economy that does not ask for qualifications or entry criteria, offers easy money and glamour, and may even hand you a gun.

I will give the Minister a few statistics. I am glad he mentioned education. Anyone who has heard me speak on this issue before will have heard me talk about the two three-year-olds. According to the 1995 Hart and Risley report, a three-year-old from a disadvantaged background has 400 words in their vocabulary, whereas a three-year-old from a more advantaged background has 1,200 words. One three-year-old has 400 words and the other has 1,200. Does anyone expect the education system to be able to lift the first child to the ability level of the other, or that the experience they have in the education system will have the same results? Of course they will not. What fills the gap for this three-year-old if we are not careful? It is filled by the empowerment that this parallel economy is going to give this child, potentially. In America, where they have commercialised the prison system, they can predict from a very cold, capitalistic viewpoint how many cells and what capacity they will need in 15 years time. They calculate that by looking at the literacy rates of ten-year-olds. In any jurisdiction where they have privatised the prison service, they know by looking at the literacy rates of ten-year-olds pretty much what prison capacity they will need in 15 years time. That is what they do. This is the breeding ground for organised crime.

We can put a garda on every corner and introduce every piece of legislation, and we can talk tough in these Houses, but as long as we have this level of educational disadvantage and this level of discrimination we are still providing a breeding ground for this life because it is so lucrative, it is so empowering and you get respect from it. Our prisons are full of people who got involved in it for one reason or another. We had 1,000 prisoners about 40 years ago. We have 4,000 now. The reason for the difference is drug crime, in the main. In fairness to this Government, it has initiated a Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use but we are going to have to be honest about how we can properly tackle the drug issue rather than criminalising those who are the victims of it. We have to spend more time targeting those who are running the show. Some 70% of the drug cases in our courts are for possession for personal use.

If you go down to the drug court, you will see a bunch of sick, poor people sitting in a courtroom who they do not need to be there. I feel there is now movement and momentum across all political parties in the House to recognise we have to decriminalise the drug user and focus our attention elsewhere when it comes to drug crime.

However, we have to equip An Garda Síochána and give it more resources. We also have to give gardaí more respect. They have to have the basic ability to live, to sustain their livelihoods and to live in Dublin. There are 650 fewer members of An Garda Síochána than there were three years ago. We have to listen to what they are saying. We also have to equip community gardaí. Far too often, communities will say regarding community gardaí that they had such respect for them, but they are now gone up the chain. We have to recalibrate what community garda service actually is and give it the resources, the respect and the status it deserves in An Garda Síochána.

I reiterate my call to the Minister of State. What if we continue to demonise areas and call them "gangland"; if we continue to demonise people who are the victims of drug addiction and call them names; and if we provide no respect for those young people? I used to hear it all the time and it was fascinating to me, in a perverse sense. When I was teaching these children, I realised the only time they heard anybody on the radio speaking the way they speak was when somebody was perceived to be stupid or untrustworthy. It was remarkable. The only time they heard somebody with an accent like theirs was when somebody in an advertisement was perceived to be stupid or untrustworthy. They feel this and they know this. I remember around Mother's Day an eight year old was making a Mother's Day card. She wrote "To Mum" on her Mother's Day card. I asked the child why she had written "To Mum" and asked her what she called her mother. She said, "Me ma". When I asked why she had "Mum" on the card, she said it was because "Ma" is awful common. She was eight years old and she knew that both what she was and the word she used to describe her mother were not good enough. We have all created a society that convinced this child she is not good enough and the word she uses to describe her mother is not good enough. She was eight years old. Where will she or others get respect if we do not respect them in the education system, in their schooling and in their opportunities? Otherwise, they will find respect elsewhere.

I am glad that during the contributions from the Minister and the Minister of State there was an emphasis on diversion and on education. We have to have a fully rounded debate because it cannot reduce itself to more law and order and more gardaí.

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