Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter. Currently, burglaries and break-ins have reached an unacceptable level in County Galway. People in every town and village and in isolated areas have experienced houses being ransacked in one way or another by marauding thugs who operate in the dead of night. That is the only way I can explain them. Shops, supermarkets, pubs, garages, churches and houses have been affected.

There appears to be no end in sight to this crime epidemic. We always had a certain level of crime but in the past three or four months the criminals have gone into overdrive. This current spate of crime is a mirror image of the dreadful attacks on the elderly a number of years ago in the west. The Ceann Comhairle will remember the Government and the Garda had to introduce drastic measures to put an end to it. This was known as Operation Shannon and employed gardaí at checkpoints during the night at bridges crossing into the west. A helicopter added a sense of urgency to the project. The good news is that the Garda operation was successful.

However, there are some major differences in what is happening currently. As nobody has yet lost a life, this vandalism and thuggery does not attract the same national media attention. However, serious damage is done to property and much income is lost. There is fear among people that their houses and business will be burgled. It is a psychological issue in that nobody knows who will be next.

Nobody knows who is responsible for that behaviour, and that is the worst scenario. However, a trend is emerging. When the vandals strike they invariably use precise and accurate local knowledge. Who is supplying the information? Nobody knows that either, but I hope my raising this matter in the House today will improve the chance of these thugs being apprehended. If so, it is vital the local mole, spy or parasite is deemed to be as culpable as the thugs themselves. What is happening throughout County Galway could not be organised if extremely local knowledge was not available. For example, when a family is away for a wedding, its house is targeted. If a farmer sells cattle at a mart, a few days later his house is burgled.

I do not have time to list all the examples but incredibly local knowledge is involved. The situation is so bad that nothing short of a ring of steel by the Garda is warranted. I ask for more gardaí, more resources and more equipment so the Garda will be able to handle this scourge before it gets out of hand.

The Minister of State should ensure my comments are delivered directly to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The people of County Galway have a problem on their hands. While I assume the situation is as bad in other areas, we are going through a storm at present and I want action to be taken.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I reply on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who is unfortunately unable to be present. I assure the Deputy that the Minister and I share his concern, and that of the public, with regard to raids and break-ins carried out in rural areas in County Galway in the recent past.

Engagement with the rural community and rural policing is one of the priorities of the Garda Síochána. Senior Garda management continually monitors resources and policing initiatives to ensure the service being provided is continuously improving. The Garda inspectorate, which was established under the Garda Síochána Act and is led by former Boston Police Commissioner, Ms Kathleen O'Toole, recently submitted a report to the Minister which is a comprehensive examination of the current state of the Garda Síochána and makes recommendations for the ongoing reform of the force. The report and its recommendations on the service being provided will be taken on board. Rural policing is continually being reviewed and developed and the enhanced liaison structures between Garda management and local authorities through the joint policing committees and community policing fora will be of enormous benefit to the policing of rural areas when these are fully up and running.

The Minister is informed by the Garda authorities that detective inspectors have been appointed in each division with specific responsibility for the investigation of serious crime in rural areas. The quality of criminal intelligence becoming available to the Garda Síochána is continually being improved

To enhance rural policing a number of initiatives have been implemented in Garda divisions nationally. Checkpoints are set up at strategic locations in rural villages to detect criminals travelling to commit crime outside the areas in which they live and to prevent the commission of crimes and offences. Crime prevention officers are available to offer crime prevention and security advice to residential and business groups and regularly provide such advice through local media outlets, newspaper and radio broadcasts. In addition, residents in rural areas are encouraged to establish and rejuvenate community alert schemes, assisted by members of local community policing units.

Initiatives under Operation Anvil have been implemented in every Garda district in the country. These incorporate special crime prevention and detection patrols in rural areas which have been identified as being particularly vulnerable to crime. Such patrols include all available Garda resources, including uniform and plain clothes personnel, district detective and drug units, as well as divisional crime task forces and traffic corps personnel. Patrol times are also varied to maximise coverage in such areas.

An important partnership for the Garda Síochána is its partnership with the community alert programme. This is a community-based initiative in rural communities, set up in 1985 by Muintir na Tíre in association with the Garda authorities. There are currently 1,300 community alert groups nationwide dedicated to improving the quality of life of people in rural communities who are vulnerable, in particular the elderly. The partnership between Muintir na Tíre and the Garda Síochána is formalised in a memorandum of understanding between both organisations for the development and operation of the programme. In conjunction with Muintir na Tíre, the Minister intends to launch the new community alert strategy for the period 2007 to 2011 on 26 October. This new strategy will inform the implementation of community alert over the next five years.

Community policing is a central feature of current Garda policing policy and members of community policing units are encouraged to engage with the local communities where they are assigned. An internal Garda working group has been established to develop a comprehensive model of community policing. This model is being informed by an extensive public consultation process.

I would now like to address the particular matter raised by the Deputy. The Minister is informed by the Garda authorities that a number of the burglaries referred to are occurring in rural areas of County Galway during the night. Very often the occupants of the house are asleep and remain undisturbed. In most cases the offenders take only items that they have access to from the floor to which they gained entry. Frequently the houses targeted are two storey houses, with the ground floor being the only one searched. On most occasions the injured parties only discover the break-in the following morning.

Local Garda management, through increased patrolling, strategically located checkpoints and the targeting of criminals, are actively seeking to reduce this type of crime and disrupt the activity of criminals in the area concerned. The visiting and checking of vulnerable premises during the course of patrols is also part of the crime prevention initiative. In addition, individuals who are suspected of criminal activity are being targeted. Furthermore, local residents are being encouraged to establish and rejuvenate community alert schemes assisted by local gardaí. In the Galway west division, an inspector has been appointed to co-ordinate the community alert schemes with a view to reactivating schemes and the introduction of new schemes. Local gardaí and liaison gardaí are also reviewing all neighbourhood watch schemes throughout the Galway west division with a view to reactivating dormant schemes and initiating new schemes.

Operation Anvil is implemented in each of the Garda districts in the western region. Special crime prevention and detection operations have been implemented and are ongoing. Rural areas in each of the divisions are included in operational orders taking cognisance of crime trends when implementing operations.

The Minister is aware of the concern which incidents like those referred to by the Deputy cause to the people directly affected and the wider community. He is confident the Garda Síochána is using all resources available to ensure a proactive and co-ordinated approach to prevent such incidents occurring in the future.