Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I am disappointed a Minister from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is not here. I raised this matter approximately one year ago and there was some response. There was an increase in the number of gardaí in Tralee but there is much more to do.

Recently, there have been a number of very vicious assaults on people in Tralee town. Last week alone, there were two assaults which were extremely brutal. During the early hours of Saturday morning, a man was attacked by three others in the Strand Street area. In a separate incident, a man was assaulted in the Mary Street-Abbey carpark area at approximately 12.30 a.m. on Sunday. Both victims were hospitalised. The mother of one of the victims spoke this week of her son's injuries, claiming that he had obtained a fractured cheek bone, bruising to an eye and cuts to the head which required stitches in what was a completely unprovoked attack. The psychological wounds, which cannot be seen so easily, are also very damaging.

A fortnight ago, the victim of another unprovoked attack in Tralee was close to losing an eye. The assault on two men which happened in the early hours of Sunday morning on Russell Street was described by an eyewitness as being particularly vicious. The wife of one of the victims of this assault said she and her husband were naturally very angry about the assault and she described what happened as unbelievable. Incidentally, these people were visitors to the town and they said they would be very slow to return to it again.

Residents along the old Tralee-Fenit railway line have been living in terror following a series of assaults in the area this year. Early this year, a cyclist in his 20s was assaulted on Killeen Road by two men brandishing weapons and wearing balaclavas. The man's assailants jumped from a car and began to beat him around the head and body with what was believed to be a baseball bat. The man who sustained head injuries was taken to Kerry General Hospital.

I have also received a considerable amount of anecdotal evidence that many more assaults take place in Tralee which are not reported to the Garda. From speaking to many young people who socialise in Tralee at weekends, the town has become a rather dangerous place in which to be during the early hours of Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings. Many of the people who cause trouble in the town are not locals.

Taxi drivers in the town have told me of many unprovoked attacks on their colleagues while working at night. Last year, representatives of the taxi association in Tralee were in the House when I raised this matter. They came up specifically to meet the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. They met the junior Minister on that occasion to point out what was happening in Tralee.

The gardaí are doing their best and I appeal to the Minister to ensure as many foot patrols as possible in the town from now until Christmas, in particular. This should be possible. The town's CCTV cameras are not functioning properly and, as a result, parts of the town which should be monitored are not being monitored. Surely it should be possible to have CCTV surveillance repaired to ensure it acts as a major deterrent to crime. I am sure we all agree it is pointless having cameras which do not work.

The local policing forum, which was recently established in Tralee, has a role to play in tackling this issue. However, the forum's membership should be more broadly based and it should meet more often. From a preventative perspective, parents, teachers and others who are in contact with young people must continue to educate them about the immorality and danger of the type of behaviour to which I have referred. I hope the Minister of State, in his reply, will give some guarantee that there will be additional Garda foot patrols in the town. I hope this matter is taken seriously and that all possible support will be given to the local gardaí to ensure they can stop the increase in anti-social behaviour in Tralee and, if possible, make it a matter of history.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the Adjournment. I am speaking on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who is unable to be present. I assure the Deputy that the Tánaiste and I share his concerns about recent incidents in Tralee. Earlier this year the Minster of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Fahey, met Deputies from north Kerry, including Deputy Deenihan, and representatives of the Tralee taxi drivers to discuss this and other matters.

Before commenting on the matter raised by the Deputy, it is helpful to put the issue of crime into perspective. The level of headline crime in 2005 is lower than that for 2002 by 4.4%. Furthermore, in 1995, with a population of almost 3.6 million people, there were 29 crimes per 1,000 of the population, while in 2005, with a population of over 4.1 million, there were 24.6 crimes per 1,000 of the population. The most recent set of quarterly crime figures, for the third quarter, released for the first time by the Central Statistics Office, shows a decrease for the quarter of 1.6%, compared with the same quarter last year.

The Tánaiste is giving the highest priority to providing the resources to the Garda Síochána to tackle and prevent crime. He is very pleased that the personnel strength of all ranks of the Garda Síochána increased to a record 12,762 on 8 September, following the attestation of 249 new members. This compares with a total strength of 10,702 in all ranks at 30 June 1997 and represents an increase of 2,060, or 19%, in the personnel strength of the force during that period. Furthermore, the Garda budget now stands at €1.3 billion, a 13% increase on 2005 and an 85% increase since 1997 in real terms.

The personnel strength of the Kerry division on 25 October this year was 290, while at the end of 1997 it was 230 in all ranks. This represents an increase of 26%, or 60, in the number of personnel allocated. With regard to Tralee Garda station, the personnel strength at the end of 1997 was 76 in all ranks, while on 25 October this year it had reached 95 in all ranks. This represents an increase of 25%, or 19, in the number of personnel allocation.

The current recruitment drive to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members, in line with the commitment in the agreed programme for Government, is fully on target. This drive will lead to a combined strength, of both attested gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 by the end of this year. The first three groups of newly attested gardaí under this accelerated recruitment programme came on stream in March, June and September of this year and the fourth such group will become fully attested members of the force later in the year. Further tranches of approximately 275 newly attested gardaí will follow every 90 days thereafter until the programme is complete. The Garda Commissioner will now draw up plans on how best to distribute and manage these additional resources and in this context the needs of the Kerry division will be given the fullest consideration.

Strong provisions are already in place to combat anti-social and unlawful behaviour. The primary basis for the law regarding public order offences is the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, which modernised the law in this regard. Furthermore, because of the Tánaiste's concerns about the abuse of alcohol and its contribution to public order offending and broader social problems, he brought forward tough new provisions to deal with alcohol abuse and its effect on public order in the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003. The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2003 provides the Garda Síochána with additional powers to deal with late night street violence and anti-social conduct attributable to excessive drinking.

The Deputy will be aware that the recently enacted Criminal Justice Act 2006 contains an essential updating of our criminal law to ensure that criminal offences can be investigated and prosecuted in a way which is efficient and fair and which meets the needs of modern society. It also contains provisions to deal with anti-social behaviour by adults and juveniles. The Garda Síochána is working on the procedures that will enable the relevant parts of the Act to be commenced in the near future.

The Tánaiste attaches great importance to the development of a real partnership between the Garda Síochána and local authorities on matters affecting policing. His intention and that of the Oireachtas, as set out in the Garda Síochána Act 2005, is that joint policing committees and local policing fora established under them will provide arenas where the Garda Síochána and local authorities can co-operate and work together to address local policing and other issues.

The Tánaiste, with the assistance of the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, and the Garda Síochána, has issued guidelines for the operation of a number of joint policing committees on a pilot basis. These committees, which are made up of Oireachtas Members, local authority officials, representatives of local community and voluntary organisations as well as members of the Garda Síochána, are intended to further strengthen connections between gardaí and local communities and improve input from democratic representatives into policing policies. Tralee is included in the pilot phase and I understand that the committee has commenced its work.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that, to date, there have been a total of 16 serious assaults reported in Tralee, 11 of which have been detected. The gardaí expect that further detections will be made, including for recent assaults. I am also informed that in a further effort to address public disorder in the town and reduce the numbers of people leaving licensed premises and food outlets at the same time, special exemptions until 2 a.m. only are now being granted by the District Court for the Tralee area. The CCTV system in place in the town is being reviewed to ensure optimum effectiveness. Additional patrols by uniformed and plain clothes gardaí have also been put in place by local Garda management to address the problems caused by unacceptable behaviour in the town.

Local Garda management will continue to utilise the resources necessary to combat this behaviour. The joint policing committee also has a central role to play in mobilising the local authority and the local community to do their part.