Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for bringing this matter to the attention of the House. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who wishes to thank the Senator for raising the matter on the Adjournment. He is pleased to respond, through me, on behalf of his Department.

It is an unfortunate fact that in today's society not only is the incidence of vandalism higher than it used to be, but its targets are also wider. With changing social mores, the restraints which would have protected some targets in the past have weakened. Regrettably, buildings such as churches, which would have been spared in the past, are now seen as no different from other targets. This affects churches of all denominations. Places of worship belonging to religions other than Christianity have also suffered in this way.

The most recent criminal statistics available are for 2001. In that year some 111 burglary offences and 114 offences of criminal damage were recorded where the location was a church. The detection rates were 33% for burglary offences and 30% for criminal damage offences.

Churches are vulnerable because they were seldom designed with security in mind and they are, by and large, unoccupied most of the time. In addition, many are located in rural or sparsely populated areas. Furthermore, the congregations of a growing number of churches are becoming smaller and the average age of their members is increasing. Another relevant factor is that because the congregations of many rural churches are relatively small, the numbers of people in a position to keep an eye on them are few.

In mentioning these factors, I do not wish to underplay the valuable role that many people fulfil in keeping an eye on churches which belong to a different denomination from theirs. When a church has been vandalised or robbed, it is not only that church's congregation which feels attacked – all the people of the affected area, regardless of their own religious affiliation, feel similarly injured.