Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the House this afternoon on the very serious issue of the recent arson attacks that have been carried out by a small number of people determined to sow division in our communities. I want to be very clear that, while I will address issues around immigration today, the matter of arson is a criminal and violent act, and is not under any circumstances a legitimate form of protest. Immigration has been extremely positive for this country. I believe the Irish people, with our own history of emigration, are particularly well placed to understand and appreciate the contribution that immigration makes. Many people who have come to live and work here are breathing new life into our towns and villages. Many of them are teachers and pupils in our rural schools and healthcare workers in our hospitals and care homes. Many more of them bring tens of thousands of people to work daily on our public transport. They are building the homes that we badly need. They are also workers in our multinational sector, which generates significant revenue for the Exchequer that is reinvested back into public services and infrastructure.

We have seen unprecedented numbers coming to Ireland in recent years. This is driven by the war in Ukraine and the many conflicts elsewhere. We can all appreciate that this has meant additional pressure on public services around the country but a huge amount of work is being done to relieve those pressures. That work has many strands and involves input from across government and from State agencies and other groups. Against that backdrop, I want to make clear that people have the right to protest, to question and to discuss decisions and changes that have an impact on our country. Absolutely nobody has the right to take action that causes others to fear for their safety or in a way that threatens public order. Nobody has the right to intimidate others and to damage the property of others. Nobody has the right to set fire to somebody else's property. To do so, or to support those who do this, is an extremely serious criminal matter.

With regard to the recent incidents of arson, I assure Members that I and my officials are in regular ongoing contact with the Garda Commissioner and his team and I am satisfied that each of the recent incidents is being fully investigated. The Garda Commissioner has assured me that each and every one of these arson attacks is being treated with the utmost seriousness and all necessary resources and skills are being provided for the investigations. A senior investigating officer has been assigned and an incident room established in each case. This is the same approach adopted, for example, in incidents of murder. I add this point simply to emphasise how serious the Garda response is. The highly skilled special detective unit, SDU, is supporting and assisting local units with gathering intelligence and how the investigations are conducted.

As we know, arrests have been made in some cases and it is important that An Garda Síochána is given space to carry out these investigations. A very small group of people have acted in this way around the country, but I have no doubt that there are people close to them or who know them who suspect that person may be involved. I repeat what I have said in the Chamber many times, that by not passing on this information, people are complicit in these crimes. I urge anyone with any information on any of these incidents to convey this information and to contact An Garda Síochána.

It is important to note that An Garda Síochána successfully policed almost 800 protests across the country in 2023.

The vast number of those protests went off without serious incident and without criminal damage to property.  Where any protests veered into any kind of criminal activity, the Garda has pursued that in appropriate ways.  In DMR, as of November last year, there were 47 different arrests, which we perhaps do not always hear about. In response to protests and demonstrations, Garda management deploys an increased presence where it deems it necessary.  An Garda Síochána conducts a review of the response to each protest and public order incident.  Its approach is ever evolving and intelligence led.  I am proud to live in a country where everyone has the right to peaceful protest, but it is the responsibility of everyone to do so in a peaceful manner and never in a way that infringes on the safety and rights of others.  When people go beyond what is acceptable and put others in danger, members of An Garda Síochána should, and do, protect all members of the public and uphold the law.  The recent incidents of arson that we have seen are reckless and serious crimes.  Not only do they show an egregious disregard for those communities, but the people carrying out these crimes are risking somebody being inside the building.  They are risking the lives of the firefighters who go to put the fire out. None of us want a situation where a person is hurt, or worse, where they are in the house or property.  Lighting a fuse that results in a loss of life could lead to a life sentence, and people need to understand that.  These attacks demonstrate utter contempt for the communities they affect and, in particular, the owners and residents of the properties in question.  When gardaí apprehend those who commit these crimes, and they are brought before the courts, serious punishments are available to the Judiciary.  The Criminal Damage Act 1991, for example, provides for life imprisonment as a maximum sentence for arson in some cases.  When it comes to vandalism, there are fines of up to €12,500 or ten years in prison. I reiterate that nobody has the right to cause damage to property, to cause fear, or to threaten public order.  There is strong legislation in place to allow that those who do are rightfully brought to justice.  Progress is being made in the Garda investigations into these incredibly serious incidents.

Since 23 November last, a Garda investigation is continuing into the scenes of violent disorder that took place in Dublin city centre.  Gardaí primarily based at Store Street station are working tirelessly to identify all of the people who took part in criminal activity that evening and more than 48 arrests have been made to date.  As part of the ongoing investigation, more than 450 business premises throughout Dublin city have been visited by gardaí to establish what impact the disorder had on their businesses.  Where damage was caused, looting conducted or staff impacted, an investigating garda has been assigned to liaise with that business.  The investigating team is also liaising closely with all relevant State agencies. These include Dublin Fire Brigade, Dublin Bus, Luas-Transdev, the National Ambulance Service, Irish Rail, the local community safety partnership and Dublin City Council.  Colleagues and I have also met with many of the representative business organisations.

An Garda Síochána has spent more than 100 years serving the State, and expertly navigating the changing criminal landscape.  The Government and I are committed to supporting them in combating every new challenge that presents itself, including the ones we are discussing today.  Budget 2024 provides €2.35 billion to An Garda Síochána, a 25% increase since 2020.  This allows for the continued recruitment of additional Garda members and staff who are fundamental to responding to these crimes.  The Government's current aim, which is not our final target, is to have at least 15,000 gardaí and 4,000 staff - a total workforce of 19,000 people.  I have also set a target of reaching 1,000 members of the Garda Reserve by the end of 2026.  There are currently approximately 14,000 Garda members across the country.  This represents an increase of approximately 9% since 2015 when there were 12,816 Garda members throughout the country.  As we have discussed previously, the pandemic clearly had an impact on our ability to recruit and train new members.  However, I am pleased that the pipeline is now strong.  At the end of 2023, 3,255 Garda staff were working alongside Garda members and carrying out vital roles.  Those roles vary widely, and some of those increase the availability of gardaí to focus on front-line duties.  The significant increase in Garda staff has enabled 900 gardaí to be freed up for front-line duties.  They are also filling roles in areas such as analysis that support new and more effective approaches to policing.  The recent Garda recruitment campaign, which closed for applications on 8 February, saw almost 6,400 people applying.  This is a significant increase on last year's 5,000 people.  Of that number, I was glad that more than 30% were women.  Numbers in Templemore continue to increase, with new recruits entering the Garda college approximately every 11 weeks.  Some 746 trainees entered Templemore last year.  This is the highest intake in the college since 2018.  The total intake for 2023 represents a sixfold increase on the year before.  Some 7,735 people applied to become a Garda staff member in the most recent recruitment competition, which took place late last year.  The competition sought to recruit 400 clerical officers.  The first round of interviews took place in December for six priority counties and 60 applicants have already been offered positions.  I reiterate my stance and to reassure Members that nothing is off the table when it comes to recruitment.  We engage regularly with Garda authorities to make sure we do what we can to ensure we have that garda presence on the ground. We have increased the training allowance to €305.  We have increased the maximum age of recruitment from 35 to 50.  I am pleased that 40% of the new applicants were aged between 35 and 49.  It deepens the pool from which An Garda Síochána can recruit and ensures members with more diverse experiences join the organisation.  I am engaging with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on a number of other matters, including increasing the Garda retirement age to over 60. Last week, I received Cabinet approval to for new regulations for the Garda Reserve.  This regulation will pave the way for the Garda Commissioner to build the Garda Reserve unit.

  The Government has also consistently sought to support the well-being of Garda members in recent years and to protect them while they are on duty.  An Garda Síochána has introduced a range of measures in recent years to support front-line gardaí, including increasing personal safety equipment, the number of front-line supervisors, the employee assistant service, as well as trauma counselling and peer support.  It is important, in particular when we see what gardaí had to respond to in November last year, that we have those supports. As everyone in the House will also be aware, I have brought through legislation that will enable the roll-out of bodycams for front-line gardaí.  I am pleased the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act was signed into law last December.  The Act provides for body-worn cameras, Garda closed-circuit television, CCTV, automatic number plate recognition, ANPR, and community CCTV, all of which will be hugely helpful in responding to these types of criminal acts.  The crucial introduction of body-worn cameras is being accelerated through a separate proof of concept project involving the deployment this year of body-worn cameras in Dublin, Waterford and Limerick.  Gardaí in Dublin city centre will have access to body cameras first, before summer, and the other locations will follow thereafter.  The shocking scenes we witnessed in November in Dublin show how crucial body cameras are to protecting gardaí and helping to bring criminals to justice.  We cannot keep sending gardaí into situations where they are the only ones without the ability to record what is happening.  We also cannot expect gardaí to keep manually trawling through thousands of hours of footage. When people are rightly calling for more visible policing, this is a shocking waste of their time.

  The general scheme for a new Bill to allow gardaí to utilise biometric identification using facial images has been approved by Government. It has been sent to the Attorney General for drafting and is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny.  I await the report of the justice committee following that scrutiny.  This new Bill will allow the gardaí to use this technology in very limited circumstances to assist them in identifying offenders in respect of serious violent offences.  These include crimes such as murder, rape and child sexual abuse.  It will also include the offences of riot and violent disorder.  It is a waste of resources to have gardaí manually reviewing thousands of hours of footage after an incident, delaying the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.  Body-worn cameras and complimentary object recognition and biometric identification using facial images will greatly enhance An Garda Síochána's ability to identify perpetrators and gather evidence directly.  Police services across the world have gained significantly from this technology and, therefore, it is important our gardaí have it too.  The system will be overseen by a High Court judge to ensure that the protection of human rights remains at the heart of our policing approach.

  The manifestation of online disinformation and incitement as violent action in the physical world is of particular concern to me, my Department and An Garda Síochána.  We are all seeing the spread of hatred online. Part of the Garda Síochána response to such incidents is to investigate the role of relevant online activity.  Gardaí are proactively looking at material online.  In cases of arson, gardaí are proactively approaching property owners where information has appeared online and provided advice on how to ensure a property is secure.  However, we have to be realistic.  It is not possible for gardaí to manage to stand outside and be aware of every vacant property.  We have to ensure that where situations arise, gardaí have the resources available to conduct their investigations.  As I have just outlined, I am determined that gardaí will have the resources they need.  Dealing with harmful and illegal content online was a key priority in the programme for Government, which committed to a new online safety commissioner being established.  I think all of my colleagues and I are clear that the era of self-regulation for online platforms is over.

The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has established Coimisiún na Meán to regulate online media, including enforcing rules about how online services or platforms should deal with harmful and illegal content on their services. It is important to say that An Garda Síochána is already engaging with Coimisiún na Meán, as it should be. The Minister is also overseeing the process to develop a national counter disinformation strategy, which will be published in 2024.

My Department is carrying out significant work in an effort to protect young people against becoming seduced and radicalised by extremist elements online. Ireland's Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 includes a commitment to support those most vulnerable to becoming involved in serious offending or at risk of radicalisation. In terms of offenders believed to be at risk of radicalisation and violent extremism, Ireland's Action Plan for the Joint Management of Offenders 2019-2021 commits to a multi-agency approach. I can see every day that An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service actively collaborate on these matters. At EU level, approximately 25 to 30 Irish experts and practitioners regularly attend radicalisation awareness network working groups and meetings to participate in training and learn how to better counter violent extremism. These include representatives of my Department, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service, other Government Departments and representatives from civil society.

There is a range of legislation under which threats and intimidation can be prosecuted. This includes the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act 1997 and our public order legislation. An Garda Síochána continues to liaise with the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, where accommodation centres are being established to ensure the right resources and supports are put in place to prevent any form of arson from being even possible. Under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, it is an offence to incite hatred against persons on account of certain identity characteristics. We are strengthening our legislation in this area by creating new offences of incitement to violence or hatred. That legislation will also provide for specific hate crime offences for the first time in Irish law and it will expand the list of identity characteristics for protection under legislation. There is no place in Irish society for racism, prejudice or bigotry and I strongly condemn the actions of those who abuse and attack others because of their own prejudices. I strongly condemn those who have engaged in this criminal activity and do so in the name of protest. Ireland is a diverse and tolerant country and such behaviour is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

The criminal damage of property other than by fire can result in a maximum fine of €12,500 or imprisonment for up to ten years or both. As I mentioned, when it comes to arson, it is life in prison for some instances. The same sanctions can be applied if someone is found guilty of threatening to cause damage to property or if they are found to be in possession of something with which they intend to cause damage to the property. If the criminal damage was intended to endanger life or was reckless as to whether life was endangered, the maximum sentence is life imprisonment. In addition to those potential penalties, where property has been damaged, a judge can order compensation be paid. I again stress that these are significant penalties. It is important for the House and members of the public, and especially those involved in these criminal offences, to understand that.

Let me again be very clear. Setting fire to property is not a legitimate form of protest. Endangering life is not a legitimate form of protest. Intimidating people, regardless of where they are from, is not a legitimate form of protest. Coaxing and inciting people online to commit violent acts in the real world is not a legitimate form of protest. These actions are criminal and will be met with the full powers bestowed by the Oireachtas upon the criminal justice system. I reassure the Members of this House that building stronger, safer communities and an environment in which every person can be safe and feel safe is my absolute priority and I know it is for my colleagues as well.

See this speech in context