Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As my colleague has explained, Sinn Féin will not be opposing the Bill, which will remove both the mandatory life sentence for murder and the minimum custodial period for capital murder for people who are under the age of 18 when they commit the offence. We support legal certainty in sentencing, particularly in cases such as the one that has resulted in this legislation and related to a gangland murder.

Fine Gael in government has had the justice portfolio for 13 years and still cannot get a handle on sentencing. Progress in this area has been slow, to say the least, leaving us with inconsistent sentencing. We have a major issue in this regard. In some communities, there are very young people committing heinous crimes. The coercion of children into crime is commonplace, particularly in drug gangs. Unfortunately, we saw this culture in Drogheda a few years ago when my town was terrorised by drug gangs, leading to devastation and death, including the murder of a child.

While the Minister, Deputy McEntee, has recently introduced laws criminalising the forcing or encouraging of a child to commit a crime, the maximum sentence is five years. We need to increase that if it is to have any meaningful effect whatsoever. We also need to stay on top of community Garda policing, alongside youth work, education and training and other community development. A Garda presence is required in certain communities in key areas. This has not happened in Drogheda under the Minister’s watch, despite all the promises throughout and after the feud. We need to stamp out this type of activity and keep it stamped out. Policing, community policing in particular, is central to that.

In recent weeks, the Minister indicated an intention to ban the wearing of masks at protests. Some of the scenes in recent months at protests at proposed accommodation centres for international protection applicants have been outrageous, violent and offensive. Rioting and violence are completely unacceptable in our society and we have laws to deal with that behaviour. Those responsible should be arrested and charged. We also have a long tradition of peaceful protest in this country, however. Every week, there are peaceful protests, whether they relate to the housing crisis, children with scoliosis being left on waiting lists, or Palestine. The list goes on. So many people in our society have to fight to access their rights. There is no denying, however, that the Government’s approach to dealing with the increased numbers of migrants has had disastrous consequences and caused upset for people.

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