Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I am not saying anybody from County Kerry would be involved. There are plenty of places closer to home such as Limerick Prison and Spike Island to accommodate them. As Senator Kett said, he was accommodated in a prison in Dublin, where he served.

In the year this measure was introduced, 1925, Stalin removed Trotsky from his power base in Russia, Tennessee banned the teaching of the theory of evolution, drink driving became an offence, the first traffic lights were erected in Piccadilly, William Butler Yeats sat in this Chamber, Hitler's Nazi Party disavowed violence and Germany signed the Locarno pact promising never to invade France. This issue was revisited in the Prison Visiting Committee Act 1972, some 31 years ago. The motion is, therefore, timely and constructive.

The Minister should look further. On 20 December 1998 the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, then Attorney General, made a scathing attack on the prisons service. He said prison officers were holding the State to ransom, overtime was out of control and the prison system was a scandal. He said only political determination would bring this to an end. He now has the opportunity to put this into effect. When will we have a new prisons Bill to deal with this area?

The Minister is eight months in office. Members know of the pre-election commitment for 2,000 extra gardaí on which we await developments. We would like more action from the Minister. I will not highlight other issues regarding the breakdown of law and order because they have been highlighted often in this House. However, much of the Minister's profile is based on chasing immigrants and Operation Hyphen. He is excellent with soundbites on issues such as these but, if he wants to prove himself in his position, he will need to do something more tangible to deal with crime. He has the opportunity which his experience as Attorney General will support.