Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It goes without saying that, as Deputy Ó Laoghaire noted, we need to have adequate sentencing guidelines. We have all seen issues in the public domain in recent times that have raised questions. I understand the idea of the separation of powers and so on and the fact that, at times, there needs to be flexibility for judges. We could make very specific rules but then the world might throw a curveball, so we need to make sure there are laws and guidelines for judges that will hold up and allow them to deal with the issues that fall across their desk in what is a very important role. Deputy Daly outlined that we will support the legislation in passing Second Stage and spoke about the Court of Appeal and the technicalities in that regard, but if we are talking about our need for more judges, judges who are appointed will not have the required impact without support staff, who are absolutely necessary.

We know about the delays people experience across the board, whether in front of District Courts or Circuit Courts. We know about the issues with regard to family law. We need to get a grip on this because in different sets of circumstances people are going through huge trouble.

We all know the issues. Everyone has brought them up, even the Minister with regard to the fact that we do not always have a fabulous line of communication with victims of crime. Sometimes the whole court process is far from satisfactory with regard to keeping people updated about when things are happening, ensuring all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed from the State's point of view and doing our part in ensuring justice can be administered fairly.

The Minister spoke about knife crime and differentiated between criminal intent and absolute necessity. Like Deputy Ó Laoghaire, all of us have seen issues with criminal activities. More people are engaging in knife crime and we are dealing with a huge amount of it in our major towns. There is not a place in Ireland that does not have some element of a drug problem. I have often said in this House that we need a set of rules to deal not only with organised crime but also disorganised crime. Chaotic families create serious issues. We need to provide early supports for families and children but we also need to have the nuclear option. I spoke to the Taoiseach about this earlier. We need cross-departmental action to provide early family supports because a large number of chaotic families are impacting on the communities around them. They do not necessarily engage in serious crime but crime that is disastrous from a nuisance point of view and that impacts on the families who live around them. Whether it is An Garda Síochána, Tusla, the support agencies, Louth County Council or others, they do not have the necessary powers. Sometimes we have to revert to the backlogged system in the courts to deal with this. We need a proper strategy to deal with that.

When we consider the level of organised crime and the numbers of young people who have become involved in it, while we have all seen good projects such as the Greentown Project and supports such as The House in Cox's Demesne, the teen project, Craobh Rua, and others in every organisation in County Louth and across the State, none of it is sufficient to deal with the crime we have across the board.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire spoke about the parts of the Bill related to immigration. We need a system that is fair. People who come to this country do huge work. We need to look at work permits. We know there is an issue with processing and that a huge amount of money is being spent on accommodation in the private sector, which is annoying. We need to make sure there is a system and rules that are enforced but are fair.

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