Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Department of Justice over the last number of years has become distracted by the culture wars and has completely reduced the level of attention it gives to the issue of crime. Under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, Ireland is becoming a more violent and dangerous place. The Government is soft on crime and the causes of crime. These are the facts. Figures obtained by Aontú recently via a parliamentary question show that there has been a 60% increase in a short period in the number of knives seized. In the last ten years, 17,000 knives have been seized on the streets. Last year there was a record of 16 convictions under special legislation designed to deal with organised crime, and 112 arrests. Unlawful killings and murders increased in 2021 and they doubled in 2022. It is astounding that any Government would preside over a situation where the number of unlawful killings and murders has doubled in a particular year. Parliamentary questions submitted by Aontú to the Minister have shown that domestic violence is increasing. In 2022 there were 53,775 cases of domestic violence. Every year now sexual violence and sexual assault are increasing in the State.

As was discussed by a number of Deputies, drugs are in many ways the engine of organised crime. I have to agree with the Minister on one point. Middle-class people who take recreational drugs on a weekly basis have to know that they are fuelling the drugs trade which is leading to murder and mayhem in communities in this country. I am very cautious about the fact that the Government is pivoting on the issue of drugs in the last couple of years. I listened to a Fine Gael Deputy say that he would never vote for the legalisation of drugs. That is plainly not true. The technical instrument that is used by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to decide on these things is putting their finger in the air to find out which way the wind blows. The truth of the matter is that if the Government feels there are votes in any of these decisions, it will go down that route.

One of my first political activities, when I was living in the constituency of Deputy Ó Snodaigh, was to canvass a block of flats in that area. I was young and new to politics. When I went into that block of flats I came across a stairwell where there was a pair of women's tights and a piece of tinfoil. At the very top there was a young 17-year-old unconscious, foaming at the mouth at the top of the stairs, clearly having taken heroin. Stepping over that young fella was a seven-year-old kid in a primary school uniform. It was very clear to me that that ruddy-faced young child would be in the same place as the 17-year-old lad in a number of years if there was not some level of intervention. My worry on the whole debate on drugs is that in general, drugs are bad for physical and mental health. Any legislation that is brought in and that does not seek to reduce the use of drugs, addiction to drugs and the mental health damage drugs cause will create more problems in the long run. I listen to people say that there needs to be a health-led approach. There is nothing stopping a health-led approach right now. There is nothing stopping the Government from investing in residential rehabilitation centres for young people. That needs to be carried out.

I want to touch on the fact that the Government has let the Garda down massively in the last while. Information we have received shows that 2,411 gardaí were assaulted while on duty in the last ten years. We have seen an incredible number of gardaí in recent times with fingers bitten, being rammed by cars and actually being attacked on the streets. It is really frustrating that the Government is not funding proper Garda numbers. In 2016 when the Garda figures were at the bottom because of austerity, Ireland had among the lowest number of officers per capitain the whole of the European Union. Since then that figure has hardly moved at all. We are still one of the smallest policed countries in the whole of Europe. There is nothing being done about it. We know that two gardaí are resigning per week currently and well over 250 gardaí per year are retiring on an annual basis.

Last year, however, only 150 gardaí were recruited in total. Templemore is designed to take in 150 gardaí every second month, yet only 150 gardaí in total were recruited for the whole of last year. This spells absolute disaster. Incredibly, even in the context of all that information, the conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors had to call on the Government not to discipline gardaí for misgendering people on the street. Can we have some cop-on and common sense in the Department of Justice? Given that thousands of gardaí are being injured and there is an inability to recruit gardaí, can it focus on the bread and butter issues that are affecting people in constituencies throughout the country rather than always being distracted by the culture wars when it comes to these issues? There is a need to intervene in working-class areas to make sure they have the educational and job supports, along with investment in community services, youth clubs and health services, to ensure we break the cycle of organised crime in many of those areas and allow the many decent people in the areas to live their lives to their full potential, and we need investment in proper Garda services.

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